Marc's Public Blog

Partial list of past TFSF events, enjoy...

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2026/03/06 2 Day Dreamstate SF Back at Bill Graham

π 2026-03-06 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals, Tfsf

We're back baby, back at Bill Graham after our last 2 Day Dreamstate at Bill Graham in San Francisco 8 years ago. Last year we had a 2 Day Event at Cow Palace

Like each time, we are very grateful for our Trancefamily SF reunion

Yes!

So last year, Dreamstate SF was a Cow Palace with 2 rooms until 03:00. The first obvious question, is which was best? Honestly mainstage was good at both, but Bill Graham definitely had better lasers, maybe because of Gareth :) As for the 2 stages vs 1, I'll be honest that mainstage last year had a fair amount of music that was not my favorite, including Eric Prydz/Pryda which I've never really enjoyed, and some DJs that sounded more like techno than trance to me. So last year, I spent a lot more time at the smaller Vision stage for my favorite trance sounds. Given that, I was delighted to only have one stage this year that was mostly music I enjoyed and on a much better stage. Also, it's kind of nice not to have to move stages and occasionally have to worry about set conflicts ;)
The one downside of Bill Graham was what I assume was an earlier curfew of 01:00 (Cow Palace last year ended at 03:00 instead of 01:00)

Did I mention that we got a few extra lasers likely thanks to Gareth? :)

Day 1

Since this year ended at 01:00, we started at 17:00 for 8h of trance:

Olly James

Nilsix

Jeffrey Sutorius

The absolute highlight of the day was Ferry Corsten playing a new Gouryella. Strangely he was not the last to play, which was weird as his set was guaranteed to be the best, and he sure delivered. It was another religious experience that surpassed the previous ones I had seen:

and yes, I caught the backwards easter egg :)

This really was the best set of the night by far, not that the other ones were bad, but this one was that good. I even caught the easter egg (clickme)

I did record the full set, although it wasn't with my best camera, apologies for this, but the music is still there:

W&W was last, but Ferry was a tough act to follow:

And that was it for Day 1. Here is the video summary:

I'm not sure what was going on after party-wise, nothing major I think, but given that I had just gotten back from 4 days ASOT, I was happy to get some rest to be there bright and early for day 2 :)

Day 2

our local TFSF boy, Sony opened day 2 again

TFSF represent!

Talla 2XLC was next, great set, great to see him again after just one week in Rotterdam :)

then Roman Messer, I also had seen just a week prior

Aly and Fila

Aly and Fila's full set:

Paul Van Dyk

Paul Van Dyk's full set:

And the night ended with Gareth, with muchos lasers, beautiful:

Yes, I have Gareth's full set here, enjoy:

Gareth was a great ending to day 2, here is a summary:

People

Of course I'm biased, but having just come back from ASOT, the crowds at Dreamstate events are much more festive:

A few pictures for fun as always:

Dave Dresden came to visit :)

shout out to the ground control teams, thank you

my heroes

and Gareth!

Thoughts/Conclusions

Artist-wise, it was likely a lower budget event than last year, only one stage, no Armin, no Pryda. But guess what? Honestly Pryda is not my thing, and while I do remember that Armin at least played trance at DS (which he did not at ASOT for the most part), he must not have been cheap. This is where I personally don't mind if we have DJs that don't cost as much and play music I enjoy just as much, if not more.

This time around it was a simpler event with single room, but we still had plenty of DJs and loads of fun without (I assume) spending as much money on the DJs as last year, which also left more money for the visuals, and they were definitely really good this year. I do not have access to any numbers like attendance or financials, but my guess is that this year the crowd was more trance lovers focussed, and that the event still made money, which of course is essential for us having more in the future.

The Artists we had played either mostly trance, or a reasonable mix of trance and other genres that I didn't find too hurtful to the ear :) (I did notice that both Fadi and PvD went a bit harder trance than they usually do, at the edge of techno at times).

Gouryella and Gareth's show both topped the best sets of last year as far as I'm concerned, so this was great!

In summary, we had a fantastic time, honestly I think it was a great combination of venue and artists. After Dreamstate Socal, this is the best Dreamstate Event in the world :)

Links

Video with all IG stories together

See more images for 2 Day Dreamstate SF Back at Bill Graham

2025/12/20 Midway SF, TFSF Xmas Show: Cosmic Gate

π 2025-12-20 01:01 in Clubbing, Tfsf

For our last show of the year, we had Cosmic Gate with support from Shane Smith/Pathfynder and Avira:

Glad to see loads of friends again:

Then it was time for Cosmic Gate:

end of a great night

Thank you to everyone who came, it was pretty packed. Merry Xmas to you all!

Video summary:

See more images for Midway SF, TFSF Xmas Show: Cosmic Gate

2025/08/16 Syd Gris/OT, Blastoyz, and Infected Mushroom at Midway, SF

π 2025-08-16 01:01 in Clubbing, Tfsf

After having been away for 3 festivals in Europe, glad to be back:

Syd Gris opened for us

Great to see Blastoyz next:

Then it was time for Infected Mushdroom with an energized live set, followed by DJ Set:

Great to catch up with friends, as always:

See more images for Syd Gris/OT, Blastoyz, and Infected Mushroom at Midway, SF

2025/04/04 2 Day Dreamstate SF back, in Cow Palace This Year!

π 2025-04-04 01:01 in Clubbing, Dreamstate, Festivals, Tfsf

I cannot believe it's been 7 years already since our last 2 Day Dreamstate in San Francisco. There was a DS SF NYE last year, but that was while I was with my family in France, so I couldn't attend that. So happy this one worked out.

It was a very welcome Trancefamily SF Reunion:

David and Sony both got to open the vision stage, congratulations!

Welcome back to SF, we missed you!

Back to DS, each time there is a new venue, we always get to wonder how good it will be and what the setup will look like, and I'm happy to report that the production level was the best we've had in SF, bar none! The insomniac folks continue to be overachievers, and the dream stage was absolutely wonderful. Even the smaller vision stage had very nice lighting and lasers:

And vision was cool too:

Thanks to the magicians in the dark who made all the lights, happen

The lineup had more DJs that were lesser known to me, which is not a bad thing per se, although many played too much techno for my taste, with a few hours slots where both Vision and Dream had techno, and that was not my favorite, obviously, but clearly most of the crowd seemed happy with it, so I guess that works out (and as I've written before in my last reports, techno has been creeping in everywhere, even in what used to be a State of Trance).

Day 1

After Blur opened (sadly in the dark, so I don't have any good pictures of him), Anthony from Xijaro and Pitch, was next:

Day 1 Summary:

Day 2

of course, went to support our local boy, Sony ;)

The show (lighting and lasers) for Armin was outstanding:

Ilan proposed on stage, she said yes ;)

Day 2 Summary:

People

This was of course a great time to meet fellow trance lovers:

meetup day 1

meetup day 2

yes to people who brought LEDs!

someone stole my hat :)

Had fun taking pictures with my new and improved LED outfit freshly built for the event :)

I was ready for Anthony, this time :)

ulrich!

Kim, our former TFSF marketing lead

2 for the price of one :)

but we did better later

Triode!

then had fun with Yoji-San :)

that was his idea, brilliant ;)

Thoughts/Conclusions

Honestly, for a new venue, even for an experienced team, many things went right. As I said earlier the production value was amazing.

Of course, nothing is ever perfect, especially in a new venue. Things I noticed:

The event was close to selling out (or barely sold out) on saturday, and it was a lot of people. Enough people that the main floor access got closed multiple times, which is understandable, but it was more vexing for people with VIP tickets to also be denied access to the VIP platform, because it filled up multiple times. I guess it was tricky to get the capacity numbers, right, and they oversold VIP somewhat (since any VIP ticket holder should have guaranteed access)

Security at the entrance, was a bit too thorough and too slow, causing long lines to get in for many. Also, they did not allow totems or many things that would have normally been allowed at a festival, including Dreamstate Socal. Transparent backpacks were allowed though, and so were LEDs, at least.

if you knew where to go, there were bathrooms available, but some of the obvious ones got mobbed with very long lines, at times. This was not ideal.

Vision also had good production value for the smaller room, but too many times, the DJ wasn't lit up at all, and you couldn't tell who was playing. A bit unfortunate for them.

Too much techno for me, but some liked it. Pryda/Eric Prydz however did not seem like a fit for the event and I didn't hear anyone say they really enjoyed his set.

On the flipside, Armin who has been playing way too much techno in his sets for my taste, including at a State of Trance, did an actually quite good mostly trance set that I quite enjoyed. Goes to show, you never know ;)

The event was a success and clearly the best one we've had in San Francisco, yet.

Links

Day 1 Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKc9m4d2WeI

Day 2 Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nnAstxiBwk

Google Photos Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/dTcgwQoouj3c4mJb6

IG Stories: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17850777459429702

Video with all IG stories together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utG-y8UFFUs

And that was it, 2 days of joy with extended times until 03:00, lots of fun, thank YOU!

See more images for 2 Day Dreamstate SF back, in Cow Palace This Year!

2024/04/13 Solarstone back in SF at Midway SF for another OTC

π 2024-04-13 01:01 in Clubbing, Tfsf

It was great to have Solarstone back in SF, this time for a day show, which worked out just fine for me as I had just gotten back from Texas Eclipse Festival less than 24H earlier, and was kind of jetlagged in the wrong direction :)

The 2nd good luck is I'm not a fan of outdoor shows, especially in SF where weather is unpredictable, and sure enough it rained that day, so the show was brought indoors, which was perfect for me, I much prefer dark anyway :)

Solarstone did a lovely OTC from 15:00 to 20:00, starting nice and easy, and ending with a long list of bangers: