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by Fadi Moha

When I think about John Digweed at STEREO, what always instantly comes up to my mind is his SCAREO show on November 2nd 2013. That night is still my favorite night ever at STEREO for so many reasons. I was just starting to discover with more passion STEREO and all the underground scene at that moment; Digweed was only my second or third sold out show there. For a newcomer in the scene, that night really sealed the deal for me. I never had so many shivers and jaw dropping moments during a show. Just remember your first times in a rave or at STEREO – it’s really hard to top that feeling no matter how hard you try and how good the shows are later on in your raving career. I’ve also never seen STEREO so well decorated in the Halloween vibe! It was really spooky and most of the attendees were dressed up for the occasion. The vibe was out of this world. 

That night was so exceptional that it received the John Digweed Appreciation Award. Imagine how incredibly honored and lucky we all felt after seeing such a strong statement by Diggers himself talking about his SCAREO 2013 gig. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him post such a solid mention about any show he’s been performing afterwards. I still feel emotions writing about that even almost a decade later; that’s how unbelievable that night was. Music is really a strong force.

When I think of John Digweed; I also have to mention his October 25th 2015 night that ended up being released as the legendary John Digweed Live in Montreal. You have no idea how many times I’ve been listening to those CDs – and they still feel so fresh even after all those years. I guess I’m really lucky when it comes to John Digweed live in series as I had the chance to witness 3 of the live in shows – at STEREO in Montreal, at Output in Brooklyn and at Treehouse in Miami. And the most amazing part is that I had no clue those nights would end up being released afterwards. All of them were so special and unique in their own way, but the Montreal one was obviously the most magical moment – surrounded with so many friends and in our beloved (((temple of sound))) for a 11-hour journey! 

So, keeping that in mind, it’s fair to say that the return of John Digweed at STEREO was a moment that was well overdue. First planned in May 2020, we were all heartbroken upon learning the show was cancelled because of COVID-19. At that point, we had no idea how long we would have to wait before dancing again. Then, John Digweed was scheduled for the NYE 2022 show at STEREO which would have certainly been one epic party. Again, COVID-19 broke us and the show was cancelled just few days before the date for another lockdown. Luckily, the postponed date was set not too long after for May 22nd 2022 for a long weekend in Canada. We were also lucky in the fact that he would be playing an open to close set. There’s really nothing that beats an all night long show, especially when Diggers is behind the decks. 

There was really electricity in the air in the whole city in the days leading up to the event; and I’m not even talking about the severe thunderstorms that happened just a day before the show! 

I arrived at STEREO for around 11:30pm where I met in the lineup some of the hardest Diggers fans. A lot of them don’t go out as often as they used to, but when Diggers is in town, there’s absolutely no chance they miss the party. It just feels so good to reunite and instantly remember all the epic nights we’ve experienced together dancing to John Digweed’s beats. Midnight was just around the clock and the hype level in that lineup was just uncontrollable. Just to tease us up some more, the doors didn’t open for another 20-30 minutes! I can’t stress enough how ecstatic we all were upon crossing those mystic doors. It was finally time, after a 4-year hiatus, John Digweed was back at STEREO !

I made my way to the dancefloor and was so very happy to see Digweed doing his thing behind the booth. He looked in such a good mood and was talking and laughing with some people next to him in the booth. Throughout the night, I saw him smile and laugh several times with attendees in the booth – it was clear he was so very happy to be back in this room he loves so much. And for those who have been to many Diggers shows, they will know that those little smiles and laughs mean everything coming from him.

Now let’s talk about the reason we’re all here: the music. I was pleasantly surprised to see how fast the progression of the tempo was. The first hour or so was more melodic and mellow with several groovy moments. It really didn’t take long for the night to launch. The club was filling itself with every minute that passed. So much that there was already an outstanding vibe just before 2AM. The music was picking up and nobody was ready at that point for what we were about to witness. 

More and more friends were entering the dancefloor and they were coming from all over the world! I had friends from Toronto, New York, San Francisco and more. That’s the effect that Digweed has on people – it quickly turned out to be an international gathering. It was the first time in STEREO for some of them and you should have seen how excited I was for them to experience for the first time our treasured club for no other than John Digweed. You know that feeling of bringing a friend for the first time in STEREO? It feels sometimes we are more excited than they are! I kept going to them to check up on them, kept looking at them to look at their facial expressions, kept looking for them on the dancefloor to share that moment with them! In the end, it’s definitely a positive feeling and I think the reason behind it is that it brings us back to our very first times in a certain way. And in my case, it brought me back to that exact same excitation and awe feeling that I felt for the man that was playing in front of us – John Digweed at SCAREO 2013. Most of the time, they instantly get why we were hyping and talking so highly about STEREO. And it’s the beginning of a new love story between them and that legendary venue. It’s not surprising when you think about it. Having travelled the world, attended so many festivals and clubs – including most of the iconic venues out there – I am very confident in saying that STEREO Montreal is the absolute best and a league on its own. We are very lucky indeed and I am very grateful to be able to attend in such a consistent way.

We proceeded to enter an intense vortex in the following hours consisted of higher and higher tempo tracks. Most of them were unreleased and I was absolutely there for it. They had a fresh feeling and that unique touch. That’s what I like when we get to witness the head of a label – Bedrock for John Digweed. These guys get so many tracks sent to them exclusively that they have so many to choose from to play them first for us. As John Digweed said in a previous interview talking about unreleased tracks, he basically said the job of a good DJ is to make all his crowd discover new tracks while dancing their life away. Putting classics and very well-known tracks during the whole time is just too easy to get a crowd reaction – but that’s not how you build and create a memorable and unique night. 

For so many occasions, I went in the front and kept looking at John Digweed do his thing. That has to be one of the most fascinating sights ever. The level of concentration and talent that this man has is just unbelievable. Sometimes, you could hear how he was mixing 3 tracks together in the most perfect and exquisite way. It’s funny to say, but I’ve been seeing John Digweed for 10 years now and it really feels like his technique and is mixing skills are getting more and more legendary and precise with time. I’ve honestly never seen a DJ with such ease and talent behind a DJ booth. 

And what is more impressive to me is how he stays so calm when dropping those absolute bangers one after the other. The club was literally going crazy around 4-5AM and Digweed was still in character, and nothing could break his focus. A lot of people are sometimes confused by how calm he keeps throughout the night and this comment he made recently just summarize the situation perfectly.

That’s really STEREO in a nutshell! No wonder he loves playing in our club so much. We really are some of the best dancers’ crowd in the world – especially when you take in consideration the no photo policy! When you read that comment, it really does make a lot more sense and I admire him even more for displaying his passion in a unique matter. As he said, everyone should have his own style and we should all respect that. 

The music was getting darker and darker at that point. Around the 7AM point, he played Four Candles – Devious which will give you an idea of the vibe at that moment. The progression of the night so far was absolutely devious to say the least and it all led to that moment. The tracks were nasty, the drops were absolute fire, the level of intensity was sky-high, the energy in the club was up in the roof. It was still packed going into the early morning. Nobody wanted to leave, and everyone already had that face that was just telling how much of an incredible time we were all having. At that time, I already knew that night would go down in history, just like the few other Diggers night I wrote about starting this review. And it’s fair to say I hadn’t felt so many emotions and musical satisfaction by Digweed since is Live in Montreal show in October 2015.

We entered a more experimental phase of the set around 8AM. The sounds and tracks were a bit funkier but still with that kick that made you dance. It was a great way to transition to the last phase of his set that would be coming later one. One of those more experimental tracks was Onur Ozman – Before the Flood  that was played around the 8AM mark. I tend to like when DJ gives us some diversity in their set – it just shows us the range of their talent and how they can integrate so many different styles of music in one set and make it all blend so perfectly. 

At that point, even if it was almost 9AM, it still felt like the peak of the night as you can witness in those official videos taken by STEREO Montreal and John Digweed during that 8-10AM segment.

We were entering the last part of the set, consisting of classics and tracks that most of us were able to recognize. Once again, it feels so good after such an intense night of mostly unreleased tracks to have that moment to decompress and feel the love of the room. Those tracks, often with vocals are the moment where you go to your friends and shake them with excitement. He played Slam – Intensities (In-Ten-Cities) around 9:30AM which made me lose my mind. 

The last hour of his set was probably one of the most beautiful musical moments I’ve ever lived at STEREO. It was such a perfect mix of classics and tracks that made us travel so far away. I’ve rarely danced with such conviction, smiled so hard and hugged all my friends with so much love. I can still feel all the melodies going through my body and mind from Paul Roux – Cosmic Blues.

Digweed wasn’t giving us one second to hold our breath in that last hour – every moment and tracks was topping the previous one. What a moment when he played Paul Kalkbrenner – Altes Kamuffel which is such a classic of electronic music. I had so many memories just resurface by hearing that track – being the soundtrack and the mystic movie Berlin Calling. At that point, the dancefloor was pretty packed and consisted of all those die hard fans that were there since the very beginning waiting in the lineup of STEREO. We kept sharing eye contacts and smiles and we knew how good and unbelievable those moments were. It was clear that John Digweed was in the last moments of his set, judging by the low tempo classics that he was dropping one after the other.

Another high moment of the last hour segment was when he dropped Kraftwerk – Radioactivity (François Kevorkian Remix). Everything was perfect about that track at that precise moment including those spooky lyrics. We were all dancing in such an intense trance – I’m still living that moment when writing those lines and I can’t stop smiling. I had to stop for a moment to catch my breath – I had been dancing non stop with such a possession feeling for over 30 minutes now. Those images, sounds and feelings will forever stay in my mind.

He proceeded to close his set with the perfect combo of 2 tracks. First, he played Fatima Yahama – What’s a girl to do which is yet another track filled with sweet memories for me. It definitely was one of the highlight tracks of one of my BPM trips that I keep talking about. So much fun we had – and it so happen that we saw John Digweed tear apart the Blue Parrot venue. At that moment, I was almost tearing up on the dancefloor – I couldn’t handle what just happened in the last hour. It’s funny – when the set finished – I went to a friend’s place that left maybe one hour before the end and he randomly said ‘’how incredible it would be to hear Fatima Yahama – What’s a girl to do at STEREO’’. You have no idea how hard we laughed when I told him that was actually one of the ending tracks of John Digweed. We simply said that one should never leave a Diggers set before the very end!

He finally closed his set in the most angelic way by playing Vangelis – Tears in Rain. I couldn’t have thought of a more appropriate track to close such a perfect and unique set. Wow! It was that moment when the lights come up and where everyone looked at each other not believing what just happened. John Digweed just delivered a 11-hour masterclass session, and everyone got schooled on the art of DJing and building such a flawless extended set.

I just admire when someone like John Digweed comes to STEREO and displays in such an intense manner his love for STEREO and everything it means. And to demonstrate that point, I have to mention the moment during his set when John Digweed played Angel Moraes – Welcome to the Factory  giving a tribute to the late founder of STEREO. A strong and moving tribute. A friend of mine thanked him for playing that track and Digweed simply answered that he had to honor Angel Moraes in his home. The level of class and respect that John Digweed has for STEREO is just admirable, as you can feel in his thank you message just after his gig.

In the end, John Digweed showed us once again why he’s such a master of what he does and the level of love and respect he has for STEREO. I have to thank him for being such a gentleman and giving us one of my favorite nights of his in this room. The memories that I’ve been building around Diggers are just too precious and keep on coming. He’s really a legend and we had the opportunity to remember why on May 22nd 2022. I’m already looking forward to his next appearance in Montreal.

Once again, I want to thank all the STEREO staff for always making sure to give us to best experience and always making us feel included in that beautiful world. The review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Luc L’Heureux for another top-notch performance. It really takes a lot of talent and hard work to be able to understand and sync all the lights show meticulously with every drop and track. Luc really understands the feeling of every track and match the perfect visual to go with it.

And obviously all the stereo goers and friends – you guys have become such a family. One statement of my Toronto friend made me laugh so much when she called me ‘’The Mayor of Stereo’’ because she couldn’t believe how many people I knew and came to greet me on the dancefloor. Reflecting on it, it’s outstanding and I explained her that we became like a family. You don’t see that in many clubs in the world, and coming from Toronto, she thought it was unbelievable, but yet so special. So, I thank you all for sharing these moments with me – I will cherish them preciously for the rest of my life.

With love, 

Fadi