The crowd pleaser: Paul Kalkbrenner live at the Phoenix

Walking into the Phoenix Concert Theatre at half past ten, it didn’t feel like much was about to happen. A few people were scattered around the room in complete darkness, bopping to a mysterious opening act. But within an hour the darkness filled with people, the air began to thicken and from the stage back, people slowly danced in preparation for Paul Kalkbrenner’s set. The atmosphere of the poorly lit room, lightly illuminated by a disco ball, felt like a high school party. Someone in this prom committee forgot to budget for the lights, but that fact seemed to have very little effect on the spaced out, dancing audience.

Shortly after midnight the curtains opened, revealing an LED display, the lights went up, and Paul Kalkbrenner promptly came out on stage.

“Guten Tag Toronto.”

Everything changed. Even the crowd started to appear somehow more mature. This was no longer a high school dance, it was a taste of German nightlife in the depths of a cold Canadian winter. The sea of people, in the true nature of a rave party, were colored by glow-sticks, neon shades, and rubber masks.

The tracks on Guten Tag range from 30 second teasers to full fledged 6 minute songs, letting some of those play out in full. Kalkbrenner teased the audience from one song to the next, giving them just enough time to catch their breath. The music transports and tingles all at the same time. Just as the song starts to feel dark and deep, Kalkbrenner reels you back into the happy place; the crowd goes wild, hands up in the air, heads spinning. But then the lights go down and the music quickly trickles back to late-night techno.

So how is it spending the night dancing to Germany’s most prominent DJ? Memorable. Fun. With a high potential for epic.