So Canada day landed inconveniently on a Wednesday this year, so Guvernment’s annual Canada Day soiree was held on the Tuesday prior, so people could spend Wednesday, the actual holiday, recovering. 

The international headliners included Ferry Corsten, Cosmic Gate, Richie Hawtin, Dubfire, and of course Steve Lawler with his signature (3 or 4 years running) sunrise set on Skybar. Other acts included the likes of; Carlo Lio, Menno De Jong, Mark Oliver, Deko-ze, JayForce, Cam Maxwell, Ovi M, Jon Jon, Manzone & Strong, The Junkies, Joee Cons, Strict Border, Adam Freeland, Shinichi Osawa, LA Riots, Nasty Nav, and Greg Gow.

My night started off in Orange Room listening to Ovi M heat things up.

 

I then moved on to Main Room for a while to see Richie Hawtin play. Things started to get really crazy once Dubfire began spinning in Main room probably around 2am or so. He was dropping the darkest, dirtiest house set I have heard in a while.


  

After about an hour or so of Dubfire I headed on up to Skybar and spent pretty much the rest of the night/morning posted up there listening first to Manzone & Strong followed by The Junkies.

 

  


Both duos were more than satisfying and represented Toronto hard. As good as M&S and The Junkies were, and as hard as it would be to follow them up, Steve Lawler came on around 6am and dropped a killer sunrise set, which blew the crowd away.

From 5am on, I have never seen Skybar so packed in all my life. I literally thought the roof was going to collapse.

  

I have never been a huge fan of Lawler as a dj. Although I have always liked his productions, the handful of times I’ve seen him spin I was never really overly impressed or blown away. However his set this year gained him a newfound respect in my books. He threw down a deeeepppp-tech-minimal-house set that was bang on. He read the crowd perfectly, and architected a set tailored to the vibe of the crowd. The set was like a journey, with a beginning, middle, and end. 

I don’t have much more to say other than that. If you wondered why I didn't mention Koolhaus (including Ferry Corsten or Cosmic Gate), it's because Trance really isn't my cup of tea, so I didn't really spend any time in there listening to it. I’m hoping the pics and vids I’ve posted speak for themselves. Guvernment once again, came threw strong, with a great long weekend party. 

Aaron

“Getting down to business, so you can get to the business of getting down”