Solomun can finally be crowned as the true After-Party King, as he truly deserves to be.
The German producer, DJ and Diynamic label-boss has DJâd in Tulum for 147 consecutive hours, leaving other marathon set professionals the like of Marco Carola in the dust.
Miami has long been known as being the one city in the United States known for hosting marathon techno and house sets, especially thanks to Space Club’s iconic terrace and the long list of top-tier acts it has hosted over the years.
Right next door, however, it’s Heart Nightclub that has recently been making headlines as the club leading the charge of marathon sets. In a city where 6-8 hour sets are the norm, Heart has recently featured performances that have stretched past the 13-hour mark and then some. Marco Faraone and Erick Morillo each hit the decks for 13-hours, Hector & David Gtronic played b2b for 13.5, Solomun spun an uninterrupted 14, The Martinez Brothers lasted an impressive 20, and the club’s Art Basel weekend included a breath-taking 40-hours of non-stop music from various DJs, setting the new record in Miami for longest running hours in a night club.
Behind the carefully curated parties is promotion company Humans Alike, who have set the tone for the vibe on the Heart dance floor, following a remodeling of the 20,000 sq ft multi-room club that is also fitted with a German-engineered Dynacord Corba 3 sound system and the very best in visual and audio composition.
Travis Rogers is one of the partners at the helm of Humans Alike, a group formed together with Louis Diaz, John Fortini and Giancarlo Chia. Travis is a promoter with extensive experience in Miami that includes years of work at Club Space just next door. We had the chance to talk to him to discuss the vision behind Heart’s recent focus on marathon sets and what this means for the club as Miami Music Week approaches.
Photos by Anton Ogarev
What else is there to say about Sunwaves 19? The Romanian festival made headlines for not one but two seemingly endless marathon sets: the first, a solo 21hr effort by Naples’ own Marco Carola, and the second a tandem 31hr achievement by tINI and Bill Patrick.
There is no doubt that the five-day gathering on Mamaia Nord Beach in Romania certainly produced even more stellar music moments. Not many of the sets appear to have been posted, but a one-and-a-half-hour recording of Ricardo Villalobos did in fact appear on SoundCloud.
We must warn you, it’s not the best of quality recording but it certainly plays good homage to the set put on by the Chilean producer and DJ. The set includes plays of Chris Carrier and Dan Ghenacia’s “Cherie” released on Apollonia, Franco Cinelli’s remix of DJ W!LD’s “Plus Lion” out on Vessel Records and Josh Wink’s “Meditation Will Manifest.”
If you’re looking for more music from the 19th edition of Sunwaves, our friends at XLR8R have released an exclusive three-hour recording of Faster’s set from the festival. Together with Ricardo Villalobos’ they provide over four hours of rolling minimal techno and house for your listening pleasure.
Photo courtesy of Music On/Amnesia Ibiza
This past weekend the world of electronic music saw headlines made at Sunwaves after Marco Carola logged in a 21 hour set only to be surpassed by a 31 hour marathon back-to-back performance by tINI and Bill Patrick.
In light of the news and the resultant social media chatter about length of sets we began to wonder, just how long should a DJ set be? We would like to know what your answer to that question is through the poll below.
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tINI and Bill Patrick playing back to back. Photo courtesy of tINI Facebook
Yesterday we broke the news of Marco Carola’s near-24 hour set at Sunwaves festival on Mamaia beach in Romania. The Italian DJ came close to beating his day-long record set last year at the same venue, but came short of a few hours – reportedly he also suffered from technical difficulties in the middle of the set which cut the music off for an unspecified time period.
While 16 hour sets at Sunwaves are barely newsworthy, playing for 24 hours straight is quite the feat. News coming out of Sunwaves right now talk of a back-t0-back set that has now broken that 30 hour mark and is still going strong!
Behind the decks are none other than tINI and Bill Patrick, who have been championing the last day of the festival with a true marathon performance that is still going on as of 13:30pm PST of Monday May 2nd/1:30am local time of May 3rd.
Hats off to both tINI and Bill Patrick for breaking the 30 hour set mark and reaching a total of 31 hours played!
Marco Carola playing Sunwaves earlier today. Photo courtesy of Beatrice
UPDATE:Â As of 9:30pm local time on the last day of Sunwaves (May 2nd), tINI and Bill Patrick outdid Carola with a back-to-back set that well topped 24 hours!
Last year Music On chief Marco Carola made world headlines when he played a 24 hour set at Sunwaves in Romania. Pictures made the rounds showing the Italian techno don sitting down while DJing at some point during the 24 hours.
Several tweets and Facebook posts are now confirming that Marco Carola has been playing for over 20 hours, and counting! It is extremely possible that he is going for breaking his own record established last year.
While Sunwaves is considered the festival destination where marathon 16 hour sets are considered the norm, nearing 24 hours is quite the feat and if anyone was bound to do it this year, it was going to be Carola himself attempting to outdo himself.
According to nightlife videographer LUCA DEA, Carola ended up playing for about 21 hours in total. He suffered some technical issues at some point which resulted in the music being cut off and time off his set being shaved off.
Sunwaves Festival in Romania is the place to be if festival marathon sets are your fortÚ. This past weekend it was Dubfire who rose to the occasion to deliver the enthusiastic crowd thirteen straight hours of pure sonic grooves and frequencies. While thirteen hours is a truly impressive feat, it is still only half of what the Italian marathon ambassador, Marco Carola, laid down earlier this year.
We caught word of the news via Instagram where Dubfire went on to tip his cap to the people of Romania, and to reflect on the musical journey that everyone experienced. From the video below, we also catch a glimpse of Dubfire dropping Slowset by the young Romanian talent, Groovesh.
As expected, Sunwaves 18 featured a wide spectrum of incredible DJ’s from the likes of John Digweed, Hector, Audiofly, Richie Hawtin, and a variety of local Romanian staples. But chalk up another epic marathon in the books at Sunwaves with Dubfire being the man of the hour. Well…hours.
Sunwaves: Official Website | Facebook
A marathon set is a special occasion. It is the ultimate test for a DJ both mentally and physically, but also requires a special crowd and atmosphere in order for the marathon to achieve those special moments. Italian tech house don, Marco Carola, just took things up a level with a legendary 24 hour marathon at Sunwaves Festival in Romania. You read that right…Sunwaves Festival.
We normally hear of such marathons going down at clubbing institutions such as Space or Amnesia, but for this to occur in a festival setting is remarkable. As much as it is a testament to Carola’s endurance, it is also a major tip of the cap to the people and audience at Sunwaves for providing the energy and atmosphere for such a landmark event to take place. Sunwaves undoubtedly had other incredible sets. The festival prides itself on hosting local Romanian talent such as Barac, Praslea, Livio & Roby, Raresh, amongst others, but Marco Carola’s 24 hour set will certainly be the talk of the weekend. Although rumor has it that Rhadoo put down a 35 hour session once upon a time…Romanian folklore? Probably not.
It raises the question as to how something like this happened at a festival where other artists were probably scheduled to perform. Several regular attendees of Sunwaves Festival have stated that this spot is generally reserved for marathon sets to close out the weekend. This weekend Marco Carola provided a plethora of grooves during his 24 hour set, and opinion aside about how it began, one thing is certain and it’s that Carola put forth a set that will not be soon forgotten.
Videos are already starting to flood the internet of the marathon, so for those wanting to see part of the madness there’s plenty of material to watch. This video of Marco Carola dropping the Groovesh Edit of Audio Werner’s Rocket is a good place to start.
