Dirty South @ Pacha NYC 5.14.2011

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Pacha has long been one of the names most synonymous with house music scene, but mostly for its iconic and legendary outpost on the “White Isle” of Ibiza. You don’t have to travel across the ocean to experience Pacha for yourself, as there are now 25 different Pachas worldwide — including one in New York City. With the EDM scene heating up in NY like Steve Angello when he gets a track request, the club has gone all out with an extensive lineup for the summer, including Avicii, Afrojack, and Dirty South. We were lucky enough to attend Dirty South this past Saturday, and had our passports been checked, we might’ve been mistaken the island of Manhattan for the island of Ibiza. Read past the break for a rundown of Dirty South’s epic set — and a whole lot of eye candy to make you wish you were there.

From the moment he took the CDJs over from Carl Kennedy, Dirty South — whose real name is Dragan Roganovic — showed the entire Pacha crowd that he wasn’t messing around. He started off with an accapella of “Sweet Disposition” which dropped right into the current big-room track of the moment, um, “The Moment.” (Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves.) Everyone on the completely packed dancefloor was humming along to the insanely catchy beat and it set the tone for an action packed two hour set.

You may be wondering what kind of track could follow an opener like “The Moment”, and if you ask Dirty South, the answer would be the Gregori Klosman & Tristan Garner banger “Bounce.” He swiftly transitioned right into the Nicky Romero remix of “Flash” and as some tweets from the night can attest, Pacha went completely nuts. Avicii got some facetime with an unlikely contender, the relatively less popular track “Snus” which got mashed with some lyrics we couldn’t quite put our finger on.

Gregori Klosman & Tristan Garner: Bounce (Original Mix)

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Green Velvet- Flash (Nicky Romero Remix)

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We’ll go ahead and refer to the next portion of the set as the bootleg section, since it involved some major mashup action. First up was the familiar combination of Sebastian Ingrosso’s “Silvia” with the Eric Prydz banger “Pjanoo”. The drop was absolute perfection and timed nicely with blowing smoke from above. Following that was a newer pairing of Hard Rock Sofa’s “Blow Up” with the vocals from “Walking on a Dream.” Needless to say, everyone in the club was singing along for the thrill of it. He didn’t stop there though, dropping an exquisite (but also somewhat familiar) mix of “Aerodynamic”, “Contrast”, and “Let It Go,” all in one eargasmic five minutes.

Pjanoo Silvia (Romain G Bootleg) – Dirty South & Sebastian Ingrosso vs Eric Prydz

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Blow Up on a Dream (Da Frenchy Bootleg 2011): Hard Rock Sofa vs Empire of the Sun

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The final phase of the set started with the new David Tort track “One Look” from Axwell’s label Axtone, which then transitioned right into “Phazing,” arguably Dirty South’s most popular solo track. We also caught wind of “Nillionaire“, Alesso’s massive deep progressive track that you simply must experience in a club setting like Pacha to truly appreciate.

David Tort feat. Gosha – One Look (Axwell vs. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike Remix)

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Dirty South feat. Rudy – Phazing (Original Mix)

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Alesso: Nillionaire (Original Mix)

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Finally, the clock struck 2:37AM and everyone in Pacha proclaimed that they were “Coming Home” when Dirty South dropped one of the biggest anthems of the year thus far. The vibe was simply astounding, with everyone singing along to the Skylar Grey lyrics and showing an insane amount of love for the Australian producer. Serving as an omen that the end was near, the speakers emitted the iconic piano introduction of Coldplay’s “Clocks” which was then accompanied by the housey goodness of the Dirty South & Sebastian Ingrosso collaboration “Meich”.  (If you haven’t yet heard that track, it’s available on the “Until One” VA released by SHM — a must have release for anyone who proclaims to have any sort of knowledge and love for house in the past two years.) Things finally came to an end around 3AM with the Axwell & Dirty South remix of “Sweet Disposition” which is arguably the biggest anthem of last summer. Needless to say it was an amazing way to end on a high note, and kept the crowd juiced up and going for Boris to take over.

Dirty South & Sebastian Ingrosso vs Coldplay – Meich vs Clocks

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Diddy-Dirty Money feat. Skylar Grey – Coming Home (Dirty South Club Mix)

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In all, Dirty South’s set was one of the best we’ve seen in a long time. Unlike his set at Pacha in November, he seemed to play tons of crowd favorites, and it proved to be a winning combination. It was very much on the level of a Swedish House Mafia set, incorporating some huge big room anthems and a few killer bootlegs in one nice rage-worthy package that had the entire crowd enraptured for every second of it. Didn’t get to experience Dirty South in New York? That’s okay, because he’s all over North America this month — keep up with the latest information on his Facebook page to stay in the know.

Posted by on May 18th, 2011 at 11:35 am.
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=684051517 Alberto Barron

    Dirty South is such an amazing performer as well as an accomplished producer. In ’09 he was by far the greatest talent I saw, but not so much this year! As you seem to mention in your review, his November show DA attended was probably not everything that you guys had hoped for. His set in Dallas was solid, though I felt he wasn’t getting the crowd wrapped into his set, and with that lack of crowd involvement, it made the whole set seem less energetic. I really like his use of a third CDJ to add in acapellas and really cool live mashes. Overall, I’m never disappointed in listening to Dirty South work his magic and I cannot wait until I catch him next! Great review as usual DA. You fellas are quite good at remembering everything that goes on haha!

  • http://twitter.com/CamdenLynn Camden Lynn

     Is Pacha going to post this podcast also?

  • Kyle Tremberth

     Great review. I was on the fence about going to see him memorial weekend in Detroit, but this post just made me buy my ticket. Thanks guys! 
    -DJ K·Y

  • http://www.facebook.com/viquezmora Eduardo Viquez Mora

     you got great writing style man! great review!

  • http://engadget.com/editor/jacob-schulman Jacob Schulman

    Thanks! Afrojack thursday? :) 

  • http://engadget.com/editor/jacob-schulman Jacob Schulman

    Glad to help! He honestly killed it, I was blown away. 

  • DJ EPOC

    Hey Gang - 

    Just wanted to (hopefully) clarify something. If even true.I created the same Hard Rock Sofa – Empire of the Sun bootleg many months ago when Dragon, himself, inspired me – as this very artist may have for all I know. And granted, I don’t know when he created his, but it is very similar to mine. My version also has a little variation so I cannot prove that he heard mine, or I heard his, or we just had the same creative breakthrough one night in different parts of the world.Nonetheless, I want to pass my bootleg on for comparison. 

    http://www.mediafire.com/?oiew8i3cu67pifh

    Thanks for listening!

    DJ Epoc