A French invasion at Cocoon this week from none other than boss of former label Freak N' Chic Dan Ghenacia. His Cocoon debut, and on Amnesia Terrace, it was a standout date of the season. Known for his deep house-meets-techno sound I wondered if he may be tempted to play a little harder, veering away from the more vocal laden house tracks, to cater to the traditional Cocoon crowd…I was more than pleased to get 3 hours of pure Ghenacia.
Getting to the Terrace about 12.30am, a Whitney vocal was belting out, Genius of Time's ‘Houston We Have a Problem' being the perfect track to get those that had arrived early dancing. Any fears I may have had were quickly dispelled as there were groovy tracks aplenty for the girls, interspersed between the more techier sounds like Tom Ruijg's ‘Rough'. The set climaxed as Ghenacia dropped Seuil's new deep house bomb ‘Ultravision', which has been creating standout moments at a number of recent parties and looks set to become the hit of the summer. Looking around Ghenacia had succeeded in getting all hands in the air and captivated the cavernous Amnesia.
When Sven Vath took to the decks he flowed on perfectly sticking with housey techno. The atmosphere on the Terrace really went mad when he dropped another track fast becoming a summer favourite ‘Hungry for the Power', the crowd egged on by Sven being his usual charismatic self, jumping around the DJ booth with his t-shirt over his head. He cavorted between house and techno but didn't play anything particularly hard by his standards and threw in a few slightly unexpected numbers like Art Department's ‘Living the Life'.
Azari & III - Hungry for the Power (Jamie Jones Remix)
While there are plenty of real techno line ups throughout the season, it is refreshing to see Cocoon showcase a more house-led, non-German artist. Ghenacia's sound was embraced by the crowd and should encourage more diverse bookings next season. In the meantime, the next date for your diary should be 11th June when Detroit comes to town in the form of Carl Craig and Kyle Hall, the young DJ also making his Cocoon debut.
