DJ Dan, Derrick Carter live from "Spundae at House of Blues Chicago". 02-07-2003

    Greetings everyone.

     As of March 29th, 2026. This post is a tribute to the late DJ Dan. 

     On this date, posts on various social media sites were sharing news of DJ Dans' passing. There were some conflicting reports as another DJ Dan reportedly had also passed and people were not sure which or both Dans' people were posting about. Then a statement from this Dans' booking agent was shared online. 

    "It is with profound sorrow, deep admiration and enduring sense of gratitude and love that we announce the passing of Daniel Wherrett, known professionally to the world as DJ Dan. One of the most beloved, genre-defying and genuinely influential pioneers in the history of American electronic music. He leaves behind not just a discography, but a culture. A way of feeling music that touched millions of souls across four decades and five continents. He often said he felt his purpose in life was to "Heal through music" 

     Dan once wrote "Enjoy every day to the fullest no matter what BS or drama the world throws at you. We only get one "GO" on this carnival ride... what's after... who knows?"

      May he rest in peace and his music and soul live on. Condolences to his family, friends and those who knew him. And to his fans, live his words the best we can and keep his music playing!

     We recorded and originally posted these sets on our Mixcloud page almost ten years ago and up until then were never posted anywhere else. So as with a lot of the shows we’ve recorded, we didn’t have the flyer or any pictures from some of the nights as was the case here. Sometimes promoters would reach out to us and have us come down to an event not knowing who was playing or sometimes the DJs themselves would have us come down to record the night only knowing where the event was being held at. In some instances we would be setup to record one artist and end up recording the whole night. From time to time I search online to try and find pictures, flyers etc. that go along with some of what we went to and or recorded. When I recently did a search for this night I saw that some other page reposted the sets a few years ago and included the flyer in their post. So I decided to join both Dans and Derricks sets, include the pictures together with a little more back story from the night and finally post it here on the blog properly. If anyone has a better scan of this flyer we would love to get a copy of it.

     I don’t remember how exactly recording this came about but it was probably the Spundae guys asking me to come out for the night. Around this time I was recording sets at the Spundae events from time to time that were happing at Vision night club and The Dome Room at Excalibur in Chicago. The order for the show was Chicagos Alex Peace on opening duties, DJ Dan and Derrick Carter closing out the night. I recorded everyone but Alex asked for his recording after the show. I haven’t seen Alexs' set posted anywhere so I don’t think he’s ever released it. The energy was really good this night and the crowd was into what the artists were playing and I was fortunate to be able to record it.

     DJ Dan

   

    West coast native DJ Dan has taken his sound all over the U.S. and beyond! This wasn’t the first time that Dan played Chicago and it certainly wasn’t his last! Dan was known as a solid party DJ and did he bring it this night. DJ Dan pioneered what became known as the "West Coast House Sound". A psychedelic fusion of House, Breakbeat Dubs and Techno both with his sets and productions. There wasn’t a still body in the place when he took over the decks and he kept the energy up during his whole set.

    Derrick Carter

    The DJs DJ! If there was ever an ambassador of Chicago House Music, Derrick would be the name out of many peoples mouth! Derrick closed out the night and boy did he deliver! What more can we say about this night and this set that you won't hear on this mix. It was one of those nights, especially during Derricks set, that you hear about afterwards that you wished you were there for. The gaps in the music was where the crowd was singing along with the music and it happened on many occasions while Derrick was playing. 

     If you haven’t already, click on the "Like" tab at the top right corner of the blog and follow us on our various socials to see shows and artists we're supporting. And of course check out DJ Dan, Derrick Carter and Alex Peace for more on what they have coming up and support what they do! After all, if were not for the artists, none of these posts would be possible. And thanks to both Dan and Derrick for these great sets.

Hope this finds you all well.

Cheers!

Gus Audio.

Slam live at Smartbar Chicago. 01-18-2013.

    Greetings everyone, it's been awhile...

    A lot has happened to say the least since our last post. At the end of 2019 I decided to take a break from the blog and start fresh in 2020 but life had other plans. When the pandemic took hold and the world came to a halt and with the uncertainty of the situation, I felt it wasn't appropriate to post during that time. What I thought would be a short break ultimately turned into years. Between Covid and my own personal reasons, the blog got put on the back burner. Then in early 2025 I started to feel enough time had passed and wanted to get back to it. But before that, I had a few loose ends I wanted to tie up. 

   

     So I decided to dust off a newer classic that we recored but never told the story behind it.

    "Slam live at SmartBar Chicago" 01-18-2013. 

    At the time, Slam didn't what us to upload it anywhere so we didn't and we only shared links of the set from their official sites. And we never really shared how the this night came about or any details from the show until now. 

    

   This night was put together by Chicagos "Oktave" . From what I know they started organizing events in New York city in 2009 then made their way to Chicago in 2010. Oktave was well known around the Mid-west for booking International underground Techno artists and this night was no exception. Its founder "Jeff Derringer" opened and set the mood for the night. Sadly I havent seen any events from them since 2019.

   

    Recording this set came about from another set of theirs we posted, "Slam live at rave krispies" . That was the first time they played here back in 1997 and we were fortunate to have been able to record it. We worked on the recording and story behind the night and posted it back in 2013. Seeing that they were coming to Chicago soon after I posted it, I sent them a message and shared the post. I told them that we saw that they were coming to play here later in the month and if they would be open to us recording the night. Well they responded and reposted the set and so happened to be looking to have sets of theirs recorded during their tour here in the states at the time. They wanted to be able to post it to their new "SlamRadio" podcast. I sent a message to both Derringer and the booking agent at Smartbar at the time, artist and DJ "Nate Manic" about everything and the rest is now here!

                                                      Slam behind the booth from the night.

   

    Early into their set, a gentleman walked into the booth and started talking with the boys. They had a few laughs and as quickly as he had walked in, he walked out. Stuart turned to me and said something like, "That was unexpected". That man was fellow Scotsman "Irvin Welsh". Welsh moved to the city in 2009 and around this time he had been involved with the Chicago literary scene, participated in a staged reading of a new screenplay with the late "Don De Grazia" and discussed the plight of the homeless around the city with various publications. He was also teaching at Columbia College Chicago where I believe Derringer was also a proffesor so maybe there was a connection between Welsh making it out that night.   

    If you're a fan of  "Smartbar"  on Facebook, you can scroll through pictures of the night " here"  captured by the fabulous "Tasya Menaker" and see the note that someone passed to the guys about "Chicago wants deep dark dirty bass" that they mention in the beginning of the podcast. Among many of the moments captured in the galley you also see "Derrick Carter"  makeing an appearance who stopped by towards the end of the night. Also "The Blessed Madonna" and "Gramaphone" owner and "Queen" resident "Michael Serafini" were spotted in the club and in the pictures. For some reason the link doesn't open for smartphones. But if you go to Smartbars facebook page, you can search the album.

    They played almost three hours but of course only used an hour on the podcast that captured the vibe of the night. This mix starts from about fifteen minutes into their set. They each had their own laptops running four decks using Tracktor and weaved through and over tracks from Chicago artists and other favorites including Robert Armanis "Fire Alarm", Fuction vs Jerome Sydenham remix of Steve Poindexters "Computer Madness", Dave Clark "The Compass" and "Maurizios" mix of Vainqueur "Lyot" and Green Velvet "Flash" to name a few. Below is the setlist from the hour podcast.

    Set list.

1. Loco & Jam - Vesta [Unrilis]
2. Oz Romita - Breaking Bad (Tom Hades Remix) [Movement]
3. Envoy - Dark Maneuvers (Slam Remix) [Soma]
4. Steve Poindexter - Computer Madness (Function vs Jerome Sydenham Remix)
5. Unknown
6. On Off - Remoot [Analytical]
7. Heron - Automower [White]
8. Svida - Hold It [Klap Klap]
9. Sergio Vilas - Big Boss [Subsensory]
10. Slam - Area 51 [Drumcode]
11. Ritzi Lee - Reverse Proceed [Theory]
12. Bart Skils - Midnight Moving [100% Pure]
13. 29 - Nu Demo [White]
14. Truncate - Modify [Truncate]
15. Adam Beyer + Alan Fitzpatrick - Human Reason (Len Faki Mix) [Drumcode]
16. Jesper Dalbach - Diode Ladder [H]

    If you haven't already, Click on the "Like" tab at the top right corner of the blog and follow us on various socials to get links to other DJ mixes, view classic party fliers from the Mid-West and beyond and event links to shows we are supporting. And of course check out "Slam" for more info what they have coming up and support what they do! After all, if it were not for the artists, none of these posts would be possible. 

    Hope this finds you all well. 

    Cheers!

    Gus Audio.

Chris Liebing live at "Smartbar" Chicago. 12-16-2003.

     This post comes to us by the am/pm boss himself, Mr. Chris Liebing. Chris has always stood for solid Techno. A bit deeper on the spectrum side though. While his DJ sets are full tilt, they are sonic journeys between darkness and light. And, as always, far from the beaten tracks of the musical mainstream. From humble beginnings in Giessen Germany, Chris has gone to spread his sound and smile to adoring fans around the world many times over. Chris started out playing a mix of genres but the underground beckoned. He opened up his first venue in 1994 called "SpinClub" to express those feelings and also played at the legendary Omen club in Frankfurt in the mid to late 90's. He ran a few notable record labels, "Audio" and "CLR" and pure remix label "CLRetry". Chris produced weekly Internet radio shows that were heard across Europe and also produced music along side Andre Walter as "Stigmata", Speedy J as Collabs 3000 and a few others along the way. His current podcast "am/pm" is a re-brand of his previous CLR series which purely focus's on him rather then spotlighting other artists but still puts forward great music and live sets weekly.

     This night, SHURE Needles had Bill and I come out to record Chris's set and mic the crowd using some of SHURES equipment as it was going to be aired on XM Satellite radio. This was also a night that Shure was hosting a "Toys 4 Tots" event along side Smartbar where Bag End Sound had brought out some speakers to set up for the show that night. Chicago's own CZR and Alex Peace opened up the night and really brought the vibe. Part of their set is up on our Mixcloud page if you want to check it out HERE. I think this might have also been the first time Chris played Smartbar as well. I know that he had played at raves in Chicago before because I remember seeing his name on flyers around this time. 

     Chris was using Final Scratch at this time which later became Traktor Scratch and was only the third DJ we knew of up until then that was using or even had it. The only other two were of course Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva. They had a big part in the ongoing development and spreading the word as it went public. I think I remember hearing that Hawtin asked Chris to be a Beta tester or something to that effect and that's how he got involved with using it. You can see an early version of that set up in the first picture up above. He also had a Red Sounds FM Cyloops sampler, the white device next to the turntable, that he used to loop samples and have a bit more freedom when mixing tracks both in and out of each other and create some cool effects.

                                                        

     As the set starts, you hear Alex Peace get on the mic and get the crowd going as Chris's first record begins to play. This set was recorded during Chris's Hi-Octane "Schranz" phase, a phrase and style he has long since left behind. It basically was the name he gave to the type of music he was playing around this time. Hard hitting, dirty, gritty Techno. Not to different from what he's doing now, Chris has admitted, but a bit slowed downed. Chris went on to play about an hour and 45 minutes of unrelenting music to close the night out. Looping in and out of tracks, letting them flow freely throughout the mix. With the crowd not knowing when one started or the other ended. Chris definitely had the crowd eating out of his hand by time the night was over and enjoyed every minute of it!

     We decided to only post an hour of the direct mix as to keep it special. I've done some searches online and haven't seen anything on this set so we're glad we can share it, the story behind it and some pictures from the night with you all here now. This was also another show that I have never seen the flyer for so if anyone has it, please feel free to hit us up so we could add it to the post.

 Hope you enjoy it as much as we all did that night!

      

     If you haven't already, click on "Live Sets Chicago" or like our Facebook page at the top right corner of the blog to keep up to date. Get links to other DJ mixes, view classic and current party flyers and event links for shows we're supporting or recording. And of course, be sure to check out Chris Liebing for more info on what he has coming up, tour dates and support what he does. After all, if it were not for the artists, none of these posts would have been possible.

Hope this finds you all well.

Cheers!

Gus "Audio"

Bill "The Datman"

John Acquaviva live at "Smart Bar" Chicago. 05-05-2000.

     It's been awhile but after a few delays we're back with a bang to start a new year! Over the break I had time to reflect on what Bill and I have posted and realized that this year marks our tenth anniversary of our blog. So with that we'd like to thank everyone who's supported us over the years. The venues we've recorded at. The people we've worked with and finally the DJs that have let us capture these moments. Because like I've said, if it wasn't for them, none of these posts would have been possible.

     When I started to look at which material to work on I thought I would go with a classic by a person who's not only helped in making some of what we've recorded over the years possible. But also one of the coolest persons you'll ever met. The "Definitive" man himself, Mr. John Acquaviva. 

     We've had the opportunity to record John almost every time he's played in Chicago (I've posted three so far minus this one if you're new to the blog) And with so many great sets to pick from I thought I'd pick one of my all time favorites from a club that we've recorded at dozens of times. John Acquaviva Live at SmartBar Chicago, 05-05-2000. This set has been on rotation one way or another going on 19 years now! It really speaks to the great track selection, build up and flow that John has truly mastered over his lengthy career as a DJ but the story doesn't end there.

     This was during a period when John was headlining at various clubs and playing at underground events in and around the city at the same time. If I'm not mistaken, John held a residency at Smartbar a short time after this for a few years. This was also a time when artists where getting booked both at major venues and underground events in general. Speaking of that, the "Vibeonauts" logo on the lower left hand side of the flyer was the talent buyer for Smartbar at the time and was also hosting underground events around Chicago where John would be booked to play at. To me this was a special time in the city as you would experience artists in different atmospheres or venues play to different crowds so their sets would represent that and you'd really get to hear their range as an artist.

     This was also another one of those shows that until recently that we had either recorded or attended over the years that I had never seen a flyer for until recently. Frequently the way it worked was Bill or promoters would call up and say "want to tag along or "so and so is in town and we want or they want to get recorded" so a lot of the time we wouldn't see what the full line up for the night was or even what show it is till we got there so I'm glad I was able to add it to this post.

      

     The night started off with us meeting over at Bills studio for dinner and to catch up on things for a bit before the show. Afterwards, I left to get ready while Bill and John went on to record, and the Datman went on to later master, Johns highly successful "From Saturday To Sunday" double CD series using my Technics 1200's and Johns Vestex mixer that he brought with him. Since Bill was recording Johns set at the club, I didn't need to arrive as early I usually did, when the club was still closed to set up my recording equipment. When I walked in, the room was full of grooving people as Chicago local Darrell Woodson was opening up the night. He was really building up a great set and was just about to hand over the decks to John for the night. 

     As you can hear, when John took over, he starts off with some funky drum tracks then moves on to a few vocal cuts before he peaks this set with some really driving tunes and a mash up of the The Polices "The world is running down". This set is originally around three hours long but I decided to only post the first hour and a half as it really sums up the vibe of the night. Funky, soulful house with some dark, noisy techno. Some of the tracks that John played here were also featured on his "Saturday to Sunday" mix and were staples in his sets for a while around this time.

     As far as I can tell, this will be the first time that this set has ever been released and I'm glad we can share it, the flyer, the track list and the story behind with you all now. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have all these years.

Track list.

  1.  Bada Bing - Mash.

  2.  DJ Camacho - Renegade (Shelter anthem).

  3.  Problem Kids meet The Black Science Orchestra - Feel Alright.

  4.  House of Glass - Feat. Giorgio Giordano - Disco Down. (Club mix).

  5.  Giorgio Moroder - Flash Dance (What a feeling) Ralf Gum "Dubbed with feeling" mix).

  6.  The Hydraulic Dogs - Shake it for me.

  7.  Full Intention Presents "Hustle Espanol" - Do the Spanish Hustle (Gray & Pearn Dub)

  8.  Bitter Fruits - Rithmoo (Exotic Fruits mix).

  9.  Different Gears vs The Police - The world is running down.

10.  DJ Spen - Funk at midnight.

11.  DJ Spen - Craze at midnight.

12.  Green Velvet - Flash (Danny Tenaglia "Nitrous Oxide" mix).

13.  Egoexpress - Here comes the night (Revisted by Thomas P. Heckmann).

14.  Jess & Crabbe - Council.

15.  Unknown.

16.  Unknown.

17. The Silence - Music Control.

     If you haven't already, click on "Live Sets Chicago" or like Facebook page at the top right corner of the blog to keep up to date. Get links to other DJ mixes, view classic and current party flyers and event links for shows we're supporting or recording. And of course, be sure to check out John Acquaviva.com for more info on what he's got coming up, tour dates and support what he does. After all, If it were not for the artists, none of these posts would have been possible. 

Special thanks to John Acquaviva, RADO and Luis Baro.

Hope this finds you all well.

Cheers!

Gus "Audio"

Bill "The Datman"

Carl Cox at Crobar Chicago 9 year Anniversary. 02-27-2002.

     "OH YES...OH YES!"  

     This set comes to us by a man who been involved with the English dance scene since the 1970's starting off with Disco, rare groove and Hip Hop then moving on to House and Techno in the 1980's. He's been nominated and won more awards, been at the top of more favorite DJ's and best DJ lists. Was voted 5th place as the best DJ ever in 2011 and was crowned "The King Of Dance music" in 2015 by English Dance Music Magazine "MixMag". He's traveled the world and performed at countless festivals and events, even headlining two New Years Eve parties during the Millennium, Australia and Hawaii, crossing over the International time zone line in the process. He also started the highly respected Intec Records label back in 1999 which is now called Intec Digital. And if being a pioneering figure in Dance Music and still on top of his game after 30 years of DJ'ing wasn't enough, he also enjoys being an Daredevil on the Motorway racing Motorbikes. Loving the sport so much he formed Carl Cox Motor Sport back in 2012. He just ended his "Music is Revolution" night at the legendary Space Ibiza that ran for Fifteen years which sadly ended this past October 2016 when the club also closed it's doors for the final time after 25 years on the island, where he was also a resident. Carl also performed at the clubs closing party the same week as his "Revolution" closing party where he went on to play for 10 hours. That man being the original three deck wizard himself, Mr. Carl Cox.

Carl Cox working the decks!

     This set was originally was going to kick off 2017 for us on our blog but after hearing in January of 2017 that Carl would be ending his popular "Global Radio" show which ran for an amazing 15 years that reached an astounding 25 million FM listeners across 60 terrestrial FM satellite and DAB stations through out 35 countries and countless streams online, I though it best to wait till after his show had ended to post it.  Carl has had many renowned artists play on "Global Radio" over the years but he saved it's final episode, which air'd on February 24th, 2017 for himself. It featured a heart felt farewell and an emotional mix by the big man himself. Going off of the replies and comments afterwards, his fans are supportive of his decision but also voiced that both he and his show and will truly be missed to those that tuned in and enjoyed his shows over all those years.

     This set took place during Crobar Chicago's ninth anniversary celebration event back in 2002. Carl was also on tour for his "Global" CD that came out around the same time. I recorded this set during the brief time I was working for the Electronic Dance Music TV show "After Hours TV" here in Chicago. The crew had interviewed Carl in his hotel room before the show with plans to air that along with some of the footage from the night on the show. The way it worked was the editors would use the audio from the nights that I would record audio and mix it over the live video footage from the club and have that finished work be the episodes that would air on the show. Carl's episode did air on TV and for awhile was available online but, to the best of my knowledge, those files have been long removed from the internet.  I never got a copy of that episode nor did I get a chance to record the episode when it aired on TV so sadly, that part of this night is just a memory.

View from behind the booth during Carls set!

    In the beginning of this set you hear Crobar Chicago resident DJ Psycho Bitch get the crowd pumped up ahead of Carl taking over the decks from her. She and other Crobar resident Teri Bristol opened up that night for Carl and really brought the energy to start off the night. As you can tell from the picture up above, there were three turntables set up that Carl went on to destroy. You can also see CD players in the picture but I can't remember if he used them during his set. Carl brought down the crowd for a bit then proceeded to pull out all the stops and really took the energy in the room and brought to the next level and kept it there till the end of the night. This set truly shows an master at work as he plays doubles, weaves in and out of tracks with out missing a beat all to the crowds enjoyment. I've originaly mastered this set to double CD from the DAT's I recorded that night and during the time I was working on this post and remastering the set, to save them as MP3's to upload on Mixcloud, I listened to it on headphones and I never realized how much the crowd was recorded in the background by the needles. It really gives an feel for the energy the crowd had that night. To best of my knowledge, this whole set has never been released before now and we're glad we're able to share it and the story behind the night with you here after all these years! 

    If you haven't already, Click on "Live Sets Chicago" or our tab at the top right corner of the blog and keep up with what we have treading on our Facebook page. Get links to other DJ mixes, view classic and current party flyers and event links for shows we are supporting and other recordings. And of course check out Carl Cox for more info on what he's got coming up, tour dates and support what he's doing. After all, If it were not for the artists, none of these posts would have been possible. 


Hope this finds you all well.

Cheers!

Gus "Audio"


© Live Sets Chicago. 2017.