Steve At Beyond

It would be fair to say that the last few weeks have seen us go through a wide range of emotions, some truly terrific, others pretty upsetting, the last few days testament to the continual rollercoaster rides we have been on, many that would put the biggest rides at Alton Towers to shame. And right in the middle of these has been one particular D.J., whose dynamic dance delectations have had us literally dancing with tears in our eyes, those tears of complete joy & with the kind of emotion that we have never experienced in the musical hands of any other. Indeed, with a run of events at the club for which this tremendous talent has become synonymous, stretching from February right through to just this last Sunday seeing his prolific performances send us on ever increasing towering trips, culminating in what can only be described as a very special sublime set of Sunday sounds two days ago that had everything, leaving us breathless in admiration of his awesome achievements, we continue to reflect & revel on the rapturous ride we have been taken on, not just over the last few weeks, but over the last few years.

So, given just how significantly Steve Pitron has impacted on our clubbing cavortings, our dance delectations & our party proliferations, we thought it high time to slip back into our music shoes and hail the heavenly times he has treated us to, with a special feature that brings together a whole collection of pieces we have been overjoyed to orate on this outstanding exponent of an art that never fails to receive our immense admiration, the art of a D.J. And Steve Pitron consistently shows through his pitch & precision perfect performances, just what a truly towering talent he is, so we will be sharing some of those performances with you, lifted from landmark reviews, but moreover, we will glean focuses & devotions we have published through various music posts in the last year or two, sharing with you the triumphs of this terrific talent, whether it be performing live in clubs or laying down compilations & tracks that truly touch our mind, body & soul like no other and send us on those immense emotional rollercoaster rides that no other D.J. does.

So, without further ado, let’s delve into this devotion, by, as the song goes, starting at the beginning as it’s a very good place to start, by taking you back to our first fill focus on Steve, which we published via our old blog site in December 2009, which went like this.

Steve Soaking Up The Sun

“…..Steve Pitron began his D.J’ing career in the early nineties in his home county of Essex, playing at a weekly club in Chelmsford called “Esoterica” which gave him a real flavour & passion for the vocation, having been interested since childhood & working in record shops, where he had the opportunity to practice on decks. When he landed a position working for Universal Records, London became a real draw, with his first gig in the capital being at the notorious “Anvil”, which was soon followed by a residency at the popular Soho boozer “Comptons”, sprouting regular appearances at other bars around town, including the infamous “Substation Soho”. But playing in clubs was his big dream and when he added gigs at “Heaven” and the afterhours club “PSP”, his name was becoming more & more familiar across the scene.

However, his big break came at the iconic club “Crash”, where an initial showing in the small second room was transformed into a headlining spot on the main floor and probably the club he will always be best known for. When uber afterhours club “Beyond” opened in 2002, Steve was part of the D.J’ing furniture and whenever he played there, the main room was packed to the rafters. Steve has since remained a tore de force across gAylist/land London, being in demand for all the major events in the capital & beyond, which this year included both London’s & Brighton’s Pride events, “Soho Live” & abroad, including Ibiza, Sydney and…well every continent actually!!, he having played at various ski weeks & was famously on the T.V. (in drag! and out) during the summer gay week in Sardinia.

He currently holds down superb residencies at “Juicy”, “SuperMartXe”, “Lo-Profile” & (of course) his beloved “Beyond” (now at Area), but also manages to mix his D.J’ing work with his daytime job to great effect both having music central to their themes. Add to that, his recording work in the studio, producing a glittering list of remixes of artists like Kelly Rowland, Grace Jones, The Sugarbabes, Kylie Minogue & Beyonce (he even rubs shoulders with these people when working at Universal – lucky him!) and it is clear this man has incredible talent and well deserves his status of probably the scene’s best ever D.J.

We have already mentioned that Steve Pitron’s favourite club to play is Beyond and this is reflected in his recent work as his latest compilations are tributes to this amazing “afterhours” club. The first mix is a selection from the tracks he played live at a set during October, where he cleverly mixes old & new to great effect, including a true Beyond classic, “In My Life”, which he used to include in his sets as far back as 2003! Then, having performed exceptionally (and believe us, we have been at some awesome sets of his) at Beyond’s Christmas special party “Ice”, he has released another collection of tracks from his set, some which got exclusive play & still can’t be heard anywhere else yet. These mixes are an absolute must addition to your collection and you can find them both at http://stevepitronsessions.podomatic.com….”

Next up are some review selections lifted from the many devotions to his sets at clubs like Beyond, Orange, & SuperMartXe, giving you an indication of just how prolific his performances are, the sequential slices painting that pitch & precision picture for which Mr Pitron has become so well known.

SuperMartXe “1^st Anniversary” – Nov 2009

“…..but taking the initial limelight was superstar Steve Pitron, who was serving up a delicious delectation of delightful disc’s, mixing uplifting and pleasurable tracks with a-typical SuperMartXe sounds that has the whole space screaming for more, hands in the air in adoration of his sparkling performance. And what a set it was, as the man was clearly in party mood, playing out a full 3 ¼ hours of fun filled frivolity…..”

Beyond – 20^th Dec 2009

Steve In Mixing Mode

“…..none other than Beyond god Steve Pitron was behind the decks, admittedly at an earlier slot than we are used to, but what a way to kick start the party and indeed re-charge our birthday celebrations. What happened over the next couple of hours was nothing short of stupendous as Steve set about playing some of our favourite uplifting yet hard hitting house tracks, which saw the dancefloor, literally swell with body’s right before our eyes. We cannot begin to describe our elated feelings and being right in the thick of our favourite club of now (possibly of all time) as looking around everything was wonderful and  just as it should be with an afterhours club, the music magnificent, the lasers & lighting luxuriously luminescent, the production precision perfect & the atmosphere amazing. And we may have said this before, but it is clear Steve Pitron is in his element at Beyond, always seeming to play at his absolute best, this time round being no exception, in fact we may go as far to say his best of the year!…..”

Orange “Easter Garden Of Eden” – 6^th April 2010

“…..the sensationally prolific performance of Steve Pitron, who hooked us with a string of multi mixing tracks and then a-typical classics, including his own vivacious version of “Release Me” and fantastic floor filler remix works of “Downpipe” & “Here Comes The Rain Again”, all, heralded with magnificent pyrotechnic rockets & ticker tape explosions…..plenty of other onlookers aghast with our energetic spins & swivels to Mr Pitron’s pulsating pace. Even over twelve hours of dancing couldn’t dampen our spirits, as we absorbed every morsel of music the master at work was delivering, all thoughts of tiring limbs banished in favour of fun filled extravert activity that saw is see our the whole of Steve’s stupendous set in splendid style…..”

London Global Dance Festival – 31^st May 2010

“…..but we were intent on continuing our dancing activity in the main room which was about to get even more excitable as Steve Pitron then took to the decks, which just a day after being confined to the corridor for his back-to-back performance with Mikey D, we actually had room to dance on the main floor itself this time. And were we in for a treat or what, as track after track hit repeated resonance and all the favourites in there too, including “Here Comes The Rain”, “Stereo Love”, “Acapella” and yes you guessed it “Release Me”, ticker tape showers & rocket pyro’s timed to perfection to further heighten the already amazing atmosphere…..”

Beyond “Tokyo” – 10^th Oct 2010

Beyond Boys Go B2B at "Tokyo"

“…..aiming for our spot which everyone who knows us at Beyond will recall is right next to the D.J. booth. And there we found ourselves, very much back with a bang, especially as the maestro was at work, Steve Pitron bopping up & down and beating out a never-ending succession of truly amazing tracks, many Beyond anthems and a-typical Pitron style….. especially when he pulled out our record of now, “Happiness”, this once again bringing tears to our eyes, although this time tears of happiness, Steve even looking over, spotting us & giving us a huge thumbs up…..”

Beyond – 19^th Dec 2010

“…..Now our morning of celebration could really get under way, Mr Pitron immediately sending us into dancing delirium with a scintillating selection of terrific tunes, many heralding choices from his recent pitch perfect podcast, other pure Beyond beats that had the main room packed to the rafters within minutes, revellers up on the podiums and the stage towards the back, the amazing Area lighting & visuals at full tilt we savouring every second of Steve’s stunning set….. Then as if all that wasn’t great enough, the best was yet to come as our brilliant Beyond resident pulled our signature tune out of his bag, the tremendous TV Rocks remix of Zoe Baldwin’s “Release Me” running into the original to send the whole place wild, not least us, our “Doing The Disco Matt” moves that we had been warming up from the start of Steve’s set, now working overtime to the prolific pace of Pitron’s precision perfect pick. However, even we could not have expected the surprise to come, as a hand waved us in the direction of the D.J. booth door and Steve led us up the stairs and behind the decks, immediately demanding that we do the Disco Matt in that very position, onlookers below aghast at our antics, Steve insisting we stay up in our privileged place for a while longer, although our moment in the limelight made us a tad over excited as well as overheated, so we graciously returned to our usual spot to soak up the remainder of his set…..”

Beyond “Erotica” – 19^th Feb 2011

“…..and with 5 a.m. just gone our presence, having been requested a few hours previously, was now required, the arrival on our spot shortly proceeded by a text message from a certain D.J. stating “We are here!!”, invoking our reply “Here we go then!!”, Mr Pitron the message sender & requester, now in position and ready to rock Beyond to its foundations….. we settled into our spot swiftly as Steve stoked up the atmosphere with some rip roaring renditions, loads of new tunes intermixed with old Beyond classics and plenty in-between, “Downpipe”, “Souk”, “Commander”, “Addicted” &  “Bodyshine” to mention just a few, all helping invoke plenty of doing the Disco Matt moves from us in our crazy corner. Indeed, such was the intensity of Mr Pitron’s performance his head was very much buried in his music, the magic he was creating requiring equal amounts of attention…..”

Well we could go on, as reviews of his raptures stretch well into double figures, but our music devotions also speak volumes, a long list of tributes meaning, like the reviews, leaving the choice which to pick out very difficult. But pick we have and here are just three of our favourites.

Extract from our Weekend Focus “Brazilian Beats By The Best In Our Books”– 18^th Sept 2011

Summer Sizzler

“…..Onto our next maestro behind the music decks for The Week and who else could it be but Steve Pitron, who will storm Fire’s main room for this mega Brazilian club brand, performing alongside Mikey D in a special back-to-back set that will surely be one of big highlights of a superb evening of music. Now, we have already given Mr Pitron’s latest compilation exposure on these pages, but given his involvement in this event, it is certainly worth mentioning again, as “Summer 2010” is a truly amazing collection of uplifting beats that are so evocative of this man’s scintillating sets that we so often savour. With Steve having starred for The Week over in Sao Paulo on a many occasions, in some ways it will feel a little like a home coming for him at Fire and we suspect he will be pulling out plenty of tremendous tracks to mark the occasion, just like those you can find on his latest compilation offering, highlights being SNS’s “Alive” & Rossini Pain’s “I Will Be” featuring the vocals of Kaysee. So, while it been out for a while, make sure it’s in your collection by going to http://steveptronsessions.podomatic.com,  as “Summer 2010” is very much in our top five of the year and should be in yours too……”

Extract from out Music Newsletter “Big Guns & Bay Boomers” – 6^th Dec 2010

“…..So, let’s crack on and our first “Big Gun” mention goes to Steve Pitron, who has once again pulled an incredible compilation out of the bag, this one devoted to WE Party, which launched to amazing accolade in London just two day ago, Steve’s performance on the night emulating plenty of elements from his mix, which we simply haven’t been able to put down since its release just under two weeks ago. Now, if you have been following our WE posts over the last few days, not least the two special Music posts we devoted to this new Spanish club brand, you will have a really good idea of just how brilliant we think this latest Pitron podcast is, but if you haven’t, go take a look, but more importantly, make sure you add this compilation to your collection now…..”

Extract from our Music Newsletter “March Winds Of Wonderful Music” – 26^th March 2011

“…..So, with the scene set, lets hit the ground running and in the best possible way as top of the tree slot simply had to go to Steve Pitron, the spinning star that has been making our musical waves since the days of Crash, huh hum years ago and sent us off to South Africa in style with a scintillating set at Beyond four Sunday’s ago. So, arriving back in London on Wednesday, we had our eye on a return to Beyond, although not before checking out Room Service where he stole the show & entertained us to more of that Pitron perfection. However, not three days after we stepped on that plane to Durban, Steve was in the studio finalising his latest podcast, which we were itching to download while away, but have saved ourselves to give it full justice back here in London, which we are doing right here right now, rocking around our study while the sun is shining.

Podcast Perfection

But by golly did we wish we had popped it onto our iPod in Cape Town, as it is a sunshine splashed collection of terrific tunes, which gets you in the mood for smiling in the sunshine, with a glorious mix of new tracks & oldies rehashed, including a fab Madonna remix, a re-work of “Make Your Move”, a brilliant rendition of “Upside Down” & the amazing “Missing” from Everything But The Girl in amongst many others new & newly re-made if you know what we mean. Indeed, with one track after the next sending us into a spin, we could go on & on (and will in a special post – watch out for that) but simply say, go get your copy now by heading to http://stevepitronsessions.podomatic.com and feel that Pitron perfection once again and as one track within this 142 minute mix suggests, “Get On The Dancefloor”, as this magnificent mix will surely inspire you to do,  not least at Beyond where Steve is forever at his brilliant best…..”

However, as delightful all these devotions are, perhaps the pinnacle post was the special review we compiled that encapsulated his live performances at two Beyond’s in March, along with a full devotion to what has already become our favourite compilations of all time. But rather than pulling out extracts for you, to do this devotion the justice it deserves, you need to see it in ALL its glory, which you can via http://discomatt.com/web/2011/04/reviews-doesnt-get-better-than-this-beyond-steve-pitron-sets-muscle-black-afterhours-podcast-7th-april-special-review/.

So we begin to wind up special music post to Mr Pitron, by pointing you in the direction of his two music pages, first his podomatic page at http://stevepitronsessions.podomatic.com, where you can grab all his captivating compilations, the last three, “Summer 2010”, “WE Party” & “Afterhours 2011” simply awesome, while to check out his track remixes, many produced with recording partner Max Sanna, go to his soundcloud site at http://soundcloud.com/stevepitron,  where that fabulous “Release Me” version can be found, along with other gems like “Commander”

However, we couldn’t end by looking back just two days to what was, for us, his best set, not just of this year, but probably ever! Like we said at the start of the special feature, Steve’s set on Sunday had everything, so we leave you with our bite sized reflection of his performance at Beyond on Sunday, the sheer brilliance of this set still running through our veins and will live in our memories for ever. As for Steve himself, well we feel both honoured & privileged to be able to call him a friend and have no doubt that he will continue to treat us to loads more of those “Pitch & Precision Perfect Performances” through his music mixes & his live sets for a long time to come. So move over & make way for Mr Pitron who, not least through his breathtaking sets at Beyond, has not only attained, but retained his top of the pile position in our eyes and we can say quite categorically that, in his hands, “Music Is The Answer”. (DISCO MATT)

Extracts from Preview The Review “Waiting For You” – 8^th May 2011

Steve Just Before His Stunning Set With Chrissy Darling & Paul Heron

“…..the one being Steve Pitron, who having sent us on a series of ecstatic emotional rollercoaster rides in the last few weeks & days, did it again, but in such a gigantic way that left us simply breathless with his brilliance. And it all began with a sequence of messages as we awoke to find our fresh faced way down to Vauxhall, the cries of “hurry, hurry, hurry” & “in your spot which is empty without you” ringing in our ears, our arrival at Area’s doors already full of emotions when we bumped into Paul Heron, the calls for us to be ready & waiting at the newly called “DM HQ”, as well as “MAAAATTTTT!” saw us rush onto Beyond’s main room for the last minutes of Gonzalo Rivas’s set, so fortunately in time for the first minutes of Steve Pitron’s we first being greeted by his significant other Celso Moura and then by the man himself who kindly stored our belongings & charged our glass ready for the rapturous rhythms that would completely consume us for the next 2 ½ hours…..

…..And those 150 marvellous minutes started with a corker, as we immediately commencing with our “Doing The Disco Matt” (the new version – “Doing The Tearful Matt”) as the music was definitely rising up in our souls, Mr Pitron pumping up an already pulsating Beyond main room as only he can do, this starter soon leading into the outstanding “Offshore” , his already superb set then delving in & out of recent rapturous archives to include tracks like “Underground”, “Seek Bromance”, “Downpipe”, “Souk” & “Miracle”, some with an updated edge, others the outstanding originals, all which were going down a storm. But with slices of selections from his awesome “Afterhours” podcast also hitting our mark & sending us on, without doubt, the biggest emotional rollercoaster ride yet, (and that includes two this week!), tracks like “Bitch Lady”, “Catch You”, “Twist In My Sobriety” & “Live Your Dreams”, we  were finding it difficult to comprehend just how colossal this latest precision perfect Pitron performance was, not helped by the exceptional emotional “Waiting For You”, the lyrics so poignant of our start to this euphoric experience. But it continued unabated, the Beyond main room simply pumping with euphoric energy & we feeling “So Alive” with ecstatic emotion, especially when he started a mini session of multi mixing within this scintillating set…..

….that was followed by the towering track treats of “We Don’t Need No Education” & “Everybody”, both sending goose bumps up our back, but we were then graced the privilege of another DJ booth moment with Steve & Jamie Head, the tears now really flowing, prompting Jamie to re-appear with a bunch of tissues….Then we were warned of an impending treat which came in the form of our all-time anthem “Release Me”, simply erupting Beyond into the stratosphere, the only one left to ensure that this Pitron performance had everything being “Here Comes The Rain”. And he didn’t disappoint, indeed not one minute in the full 2 /12 hours did, this without doubt THE best set we have savoured EVER!…..