When it comes to Progressive House DJs, there are few that can be placed on the same level as Sander van Doorn. He is ranked number sixteen on DJ Mag’s top 100 DJs list and has released a number of monster hits in the past twelve months. With songs like ‘Eagles’, ‘Chasin’, ‘Nothing Inside’, and ‘Kangaroo’ all released recently it seems like he is just starting to hit the peak of his career. Even though he plays for over a million fans all over the world each year, he still has time to host his own Identity podcast on Sirius XM. After seeing him throw down a high energy set at Electric Zoo, there was no way that we could miss his first appearance in Philadelphia.
Pulling up to the chic club Rumor, the well dressed line out front was packed with people excited to see Sander and to celebrate the one year anniversary of the club. Everyone could tell that this was going to be a special night and they were anxious to see what Rumor had in store for them. While I was walking down the marble stairs to the club (in a former bank building), I could already see people dancing in the bar area to the unique style and sounds of Michael Myers.
If you are familiar with the club scene in Philadelphia, then you better know who Michael Myers is. Older fans will remember him from his days in Local 13 in the 1990’s. Today he is a producer and resident DJ at Rumor that has always plays solid sets. Recently he has opened for superstar DJs including Gareth Emery, Morgan Page, and Michael Woods. The dance floor was packed for his set and he had everyone dancing and having a great time. You could tell that he was really feeding off of the crowd’s energy and he was having a lot of fun up there. There were also dancers on pedestals which added to the party atmosphere. In addition, plenty of bottles of champagne and liquor were brought to the VIP section throughout the night, which was impossible to miss because they had sparklers attached to the top of them (nothing says, “I’m important, look at me” quite like a bottle of vodka shooting sparks).
Sander van Doorn wasted no time getting the crowd jumping around by opening up with his Beatport top ten single ‘Kangaroo’. This is his newest single that he worked with 16 year old producer Julian Jordan to create. It is different than most of his previous songs because it has a dubby drop which brings a lot of energy to the track. He followed this song with a remix of the summer smash hit ‘Spectrum’ by Zedd who had coincidentally done a show the night before in Philadelphia. To add to the excitement, glowing LED batons were thrown into the crowd and people were waving them around to the beat. One of our favorite moments of the night happened a couple of songs later when Sander played his summer hit ‘Nothing Inside’. This song has amazing emotional vocals and it was great to see everyone singing along to it.
The biggest surprise of the night was when Cryoman, a LED lit up robot armed with lasers and cryo guns came out. Cryoman was so tall that he almost reached the ceiling while he filled up the dance floor with smoke. Everyone took out their cameras to take a picture of him.
The rest of the night was full of great Sander songs and recent club bangers. His ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ and ‘Koko’ edit had the crowd dancing and singing along to one of the biggest songs of the year. He also included songs by DJs that have recently been in Philadelphia such as ‘Rock the House’ by Afrojack and ‘Allein’ by Eric Prydz. The house was definitely rocking by this time. People were cheating their way past the ropes upfront and Sander showed his appreciation to his fans by shaking a couple of their hands in the middle of his set.
Our favorite part of the set was when he played his hit song ‘Eagles’. With lyrics ‘I’m holding on forever it’s true, can you feel the way I do?’, we’re pretty sure that everyone will be holding onto this memorable night forever. As if that wasn’t enough, Sander continued with a three song encore which included the hottest song out right now ‘Dont You Worry Child’ by Swedish House Mafia. It was a great way to end a great night. We are looking forward to see what Rumor has up their sleeve for 2013.
[photos by Steve Garfinkel, story by Lee Min Yeong]
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