Well what a weekend this was! As already mentioned in our preview of the festival, Crans-Montana is normally a rather posh and quiet mountain village up in the Valais region of Switzerland. But for one long weekend at the end of the winter, that place rocks like a bastard and provides parties and afterparties around the clock!
We'll start with the negative points - because there was only one - the weather; which was pretty bad all weekend. Loads of clouds, rain and even snow! So, unfortunately almost no mountain panorama and also a hefty reminder why I'd chosen to head to live further south.
But let's get back to the festival and all that was so good about it. We arrived on Thursday around noontime and therefore had missed Carl Cox and John Digweed, who both had played at Caprices on Wednesday night. Instead of taking it easy and save our energy for the night, we put on our dancing shoes straight away, took the cable car up to the Cry d'Err station (at 2'200m above sea level) and were greeted by hundreds of punters enjoying the first chapter of this year's "modernity@caprices" daytime party. When we arrived, Ricardo Villalobos was already playing. Now I am normally not his biggest fan, but I must confess I loved his set this time! No weird sounds at all, just straightforward deep and tech house...plus Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"! After RV, Ame played live and we loved it, when they dropped their classic "Where We At". What a start into the festival!
Ricardo Villalobos and the Swiss alps in the background
Thursday night was then spent down in Crans-Montana (well you can't really call it "down" because it's still at 1'500m altitude), where the main Caprices festival happens. We enjoyed Nima Gorji's extended underground set as well as more tuneage provided by Mirko Loko, Cesar Merveille and again, Ricardo Villalobos.
Friday was probably our favourite day and saw us again up on the mountain top quite early for the second modernity daytime session. Today with Mike Shannon, followed by Art Department and Loco Dice, who was in top form. It was also that afternoon when I thought "hmmm, this is about as close as Switzerland gets to DC10", when the very first sitdowns (according to the organisers) were produced. The vibe was really, really cool and the paragliders overflying the location were just another highlight of the day.
Friday night was spent down at Caprices again, with Derrick May and Matt Kay (one of the modernity heads) playing in Rock the Block, the smaller, more intimate room. Sven Väth on the other hand, took control over the big room for a good four hours and boy, he delivered. He started off with Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (again!), then played a stormer of a techno set (including Maetrik's "The Reason") and his last hour was just...magic! Think Todd Terje - Inspector Norse, Matthew Dekay & Lee Burridge - Für die Liebe and you know the score. Fantastic night.
On Saturday, we dragged our bodies uphill for one last daytime modernity sesh. It was definitely the busiest one and we all were pampered by the sounds of the Visionquest gang (Lee Curtiss, Ryan Crosson and Shaun Reeves). Plus, there was a priest in the DJ booth blessing everyone including Jamie Jones, who played the last slot and dropped a remix of Gotye's "Somebody that I used to know" (bit surprised by that one!). He closed the 2012 modernity@caprices fiesta with one of my alltime favourites - Nathan Fake's "The Sky Was Pink" (the Holden remix).
So there was just one more night left. Saturday night at Caprices began with a very nice live performance of Carl Craig, together with live pianist Francesco Tristano. I'm not sure everyone got this, but we truely loved their gig. Steve Lawler then took over and played very much in his typical percussive and driving style. Last one on the bill was Timo Maas, who never disappoints me.
Conclusion? Too good to miss out, definitely see you next year. Maybe even with sunshine?
