On Friday, September 12th, I had the pleasure of going to Atlanta to work with Liquified during the Markus Schulz show at Opera Nightclub. I have been to this venue and worked with Liquified numerous times for TheSceneisDead.com and each time I return the production and talent seems to get better and better. Liquified is truly a staple in the EDM industry and has top-notch production and amazing hospitality.
Before Markus took the stage to perform I had the chance to sit down with him for an interview.
We started off by discussing his residency at Amnesia in Ibiza. Markus stated,
“After three years it feels great being back in Ibiza. When I was at the club doing my solo night one of the guys came up and said it looks like you are having so much fun. It was almost like a homecoming to me and felt so great to be there.”
We then moved on to Atlanta itself. The unicorn slayer shared what he enjoyed about the city.
“The people here are amazing! I also love that is so close to where I live in Miami and so many people come to my shows at Space and Mansion. The trip is so easy and every year I see more and more people I have met from Atlanta showing up at my shows in Miami. Especially here at Opera, such a great crowd.”
Our next topic of discussion was some of Markus’ Dakota work. The obvious question arose, are there any new Dakota tracks in the making? Markus said,
“All summer long I’ve been working on some deeper, more club tracks and I’ve been really inspired by Amnesia. The new Dakota tracks came out a little more edgy compared to the normal Dakota tracks that are super deep. I am not really sure yet if I’m going to release as a Dakota track or mellow and chill it out a little bit. There is also the option of releasing second mixes that are more chill and leave the original. I have been working on new stuff and playing it here and there but the big thing is the last song I played at Amnesia was my next track and I debuted it there. The name of the track is “Winter Kills Me”, and it was really what I wanted to be the final track of a great summer. That’s the next big thing and I am very excited.”
We then talked about his EDC Week pool party at Tao Beach. Since Markus played by himself this year and not with Ferry Corsten, I was curious to get his thoughts on the show. Markus stated,
“I know Ferry had to go to another gig but I really enjoyed myself. I love playing Vegas pool parties they get pretty scandalous and always turn out to be a great time. It was great we got to play together at EDC Las Vegas though, it was a great night.”
Since we were in Atlanta it was fitting to talk about TomorrowWorld. Since Markus destroys the stage at Tomorrowland I was curious to see if he had any plans on playing an upcoming TomorrowWorld and also find out about his experience at Tomorrowland. The slayer dove right into this question by saying,
“TomorrowWorld is definitely something I am interested in playing but for this year it unfortunately didn’t work out. Tomrrowland this year was two weekends and I did two, eight-hour sets. This was a little different from my normal solo sets. Normal solo sets start deep and build their way up, the you get into the chaos followed by traveling down the rabbit hole. This set when I started it was right after Cosmic Gate, it was already packed so I had to get right into it. I really learned a lot from that set, especially how to take people on a journey through out the peak hour and build that story. It was a lot of fun and definitely a big challenge.”
We then touched on some of his solo sets in Canada. Markus’ face lit up as he said,
“Those sets are special and a completely different animal. You cannot do sets like that at a festival. That’s what makes clubs like Stereo so special. There really aren’t many clubs like that left in the world.”
Toward the end of our conversation we started to chat about some of his highlights for the year. Markus said,
“Definitely Tomorrowland, Amnesia and especially my open to close solo set at Amnesia. Just a fantastic time. Some of my other favorites are actually some of the shows I have coming up in the next few weeks. The Guvernment in Toronto, which is going to be bittersweet and also Stereo. Some of the open to close sets I’ve done at the Guvernment though were some of the most memorable sets of my career!”
After our conversation I had just enough time to head upstairs and get ready for the show. Markus came out of the box blazing! The song choices right off the bat were pounding and you could really see him settle in. He played a little bit of something for everyone throughout his set. I heard Scream 2 album remixes, classics, new sounds and a few twists that make you realize how talented Markus really is. From start to finish I was having a hard time taking good photos because I was dancing so much. When you combine an amazing DJ and a visually stunning club it is really hard not to just have a smile on your face all night.
Opera is a truly a beautiful venue. A lowered bowl style dance floor is surrounded by a second level horseshoe VIP area. Whether you are on the dance floor or in VIP, the club is beautiful from every angle. For this show Liquified and Opera introduced a series of amazing lasers and installed more C02 cannons to the already impressive arsenal. The lasers honestly surprised me with how vivid and responsive they were. From large waving fan movements to individual beams, this laser system rivals some of the best clubs I’ve ever visited. The C02 canons are ultra impressive on their own, packing enough punch to fill the entire club with a 6 second cloud that’s dense enough to make your closest friends disappear for a moment. After adding these extra canons the cloud is even more powerful and gives you a quite refreshing coolness while you dance the night away. Opera also has a super bright double panel LED screen that produces anything from mesmerizing patterns to crystal clear words. In between the lower and upper panels is the DJ booth. This really provides a quite spectacular ambiance for the night, sometimes seeing the DJ and the at times a glowing silhouette. Liquified has really outdone themselves with the new production aspects. I worked closely with Kevin Wu and Devin Walkley throughout this event and the weeks leading up to it. All I can say is that overall it’s a been a great experience working with Liquified.
This night was an amazing experience for me. While sitting down with Markus, he was so personable. Instead of an interview he made it feel like two friends have a conversation. Markus an amazing person, a fantastic DJ/Producer and he truly is a world-class act. I cannot wait until the next Markus Schulz set that I attend.
