Pete Tong Survives Snafus Down Mexico Way -- Road Report

Posted on Nov 6th 2010 10:00AM by Pete Tong
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Pete Tong

On his recent 'Pete Tong USA 2010' tour, the DJ famous enough to have become part of Cockney rhyming slang ("it's all gone Pete Tong") proved why he remains one of the UK's hottest dance music exports.

At age 50, Tong is a legend behind the decks and the ultimate source on cutting-edge electronic dance music -- as evidenced by his gigs hosting BBC Radio 1's 'Essential Mix' and 'Essential Sessions.' The DJ/producer has headlined just about every major party and festival going, and is blogging his latest American tour for Spinner.

In his third 'Road Report' entry, Tong ships off to Mexico for a two-day jaunt with Paul Oakenfold, and is forced to make the best of a trip that doesn't quite live up to his (or the promoter's) expectations.

Pete Tong

View of Arena Monterrey where Tong and Oakenfold played

Thursday (Oct. 28): We board a plane to Monterrey for a two-day diversion to Mexico. Even my mother is concerned about me visiting the world's number one war zone; I'm assured by those on the ground that our destinations are not in the 'wrong' place (I'm not so sure looking at the latest depressing story from Mexico City).

From my experience at last year's Day of the Dead festival in the capital, this country has a got a huge passion for this type of music. I'm joining my old friend Paul Oakenfold for two days of his 40-date tour. He's traveling with a 14-man crew and a sizable production (a gigantic LED screen).

He's also joined by different DJs on different legs of his trip; tonight, it's me and Chuckie, one of the men behind Holland's 'Dirty Dutch' movement. Oakenfold was the first superstar dance DJ to be recognized in North America -- an Englishman who moved to the USA nearly 10 years ago to pursue that dream, and it worked.

Unfortunately, he's not quite as big as the promoter thought in Monterrey on a Thursday night, as we are playing the 20,000 seater arena stadium in the heart of the city, and we don't have 20,000 fans in the building... more like 2,000, which was a challenge! Sometimes in the these situations, you just have to get on with it, and the crowd seemed suitably amused at the prospect. So the party had this feeling about it that we had broken into this vast place in the middle of the night after a U2 concert and had an after-hours party with our friends!

Our Mexican adventure doesn't get much better on Friday (Oct. 29) as the show in Guadalajara is cancelled at the last minute. Paul is not too bothered as it means he can accept an invitation from Sir Richard Branson to play at his Halloween party on his own private Nekker Island in the Caribbean, [flown in] by private jet, of course -- now, here is a guy I need to take back to the Blackjack tables in Vegas....

For me, it's back to New York for the big Halloween special with Deadmau5, Kaskade and Calvin Harris at the Roseland Ballroom...

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