On April 30th the Dutch celebrate their national holiday Queens day. Dutch techno organizers went all out in the night leading up to Queens day and brought in heroes such as Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin, Marco Carola, Dubfire, Adam Beyer, Speedy J and Paul Ritch all to Amsterdam, playing at different venues, at different raves. With so many options a difficult choice had to be made. In the Paradiso, Richie Hawtin and Dubfire were scheduled for a 'Click to Click' gig, a follow up on their successful click at the Exit festival of 2009. For us, there really was only one option tonight; Click!

After a visit to the Twstd outdoor party, only a short walk away from the Paradiso, it must have been around half past eleven when we arrived at the doorsteps of the Paradiso. With an original ticket price of € 35,- (including all the fees) tonight's happening was a rather pricey one for a club night. In return, an all nighter of Richie Hawtin and Dubfire that would last as long as until six in the morning. The usual end time for Paradiso nights is 5:00 but only on special occasions the night may go on for an hour longer. Tonight promised to be such a night. Tickets were long sold out.

The venue that once was a church but has been a stage for so many great artists. Apparently the Rolling Stones had one of their favorite gigs at this beautiful venue. Richie Hawtin is a familiar face in the Paradiso with returning M-NUS nights at the yearly 5daysoff festival. One of those nights ended well after closing time thanks to a Richie Hawtin who left his booth to walk all the way up to the sound guy at the other side of the room. The Paradiso exploded when Richie played one more encore, “Beat That Bitch With A Bat”. A legendary night, videos can be found on YouTube, but that was a few years ago. Today Richie Hawtin played together with Dubfire. With no vinyl's there are no back's between back's so the duo named their collaboration 'Click to Click'.

"Where was David Labeij? For two hours we looked at a stage without DJ, who apparently had been hidden somewhere else.”

Armed with a professional camera and a great party mood we walked into the gorgeous main room of the Paradiso. The first thing we noticed, to our surprise, there was nobody in the DJ booth. There sure was music alright, but there seemed to be no DJ. A little strange, where was the warmup DJ? Where was David Labeij? For two hours we looked at a stage without DJ, who apparently had been hidden somewhere else. David Labeij did play exactly what we expected of tonight, minimal technoish beats that keep you dancing on and on and on.

Although a schedule on the internet indicated Click to Click would start at 1:00, the time tables in the Paradiso indicated the duo would not appear until 1:30. It was around this time when we took a good spot to get a nice shot of Richie and Ali and waited. We waited, and we waited. Then finally, around 2:00 the duo got going. We got that shot we were looking for and a few more but then the battery of the camera died. Walking around with a professional camera attracts the attention of girls but the combination with beer and dancing really does not work. Now disposed of this inconvenient weight we quickly headed back into the main room of the Paradiso.

"Tonight's crowd was definitely up for it!”

Tonight was a unique gig. All the equipment of Xone mixers, Native Instruments 'Machines' and MacBook Pro's must have cost a small fortune. Tonight's crowd was definitely up for it. Lots of beautiful people, dancing, jumping, spacing, smiling, yelling, screaming and even attempting sit downs. Unfortunately the duo did not seem to have the magic click. There seemed to be some misunderstandings between the two, but that's okay. At some times we would dance for minutes with a big smile on our face while at other times we would impatiently wait for a new bomb for minutes. Thing is, it did not seem like the crowd needed those long breaks. People seemed to want to give it everything they got.

Click to Click's ending was at 5:30, but knowing Richie's reputation we knew for a fact the party wasn't really over just yet. With minutes of silence being interrupted for another encore a couple times, tonight's event lasted until 6:00. With the main event not starting before 2:00 and being over before 6:00 we feel those 35 euro's were not completely justified. Tonight was a good night out but unfortunately did not deliver upon our high (maybe too high) expectations.