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Benny Benassi & Friends brought the house down Saturday, June 9th as the weather held up for the season opening of Governors Beach Club’s waterfront EDM party with Hardwell, Bingo Players and Dallask.

One by one, like dance music immigrants, the colorful and rambunctious co-eds embarked on a trip that lasted a hop, skip and a jump (5 minutes) across the East River for some electronic barefoot bliss (if you so chose to shake it on the sand) courtesy of Made Event.

Ferry passengers chanted The White Stripes’ now-ritualistic “Seven Nation Army” as the booming and banging came into focus for DallasK’s set. Once on land, Bingo Players’ smash “Cry (Just A Little)” hit the sound system as attendees entered and were stared at by other Governors Island tourists as if we were the Bronx Zoo’s newly-exhibited zebra or sea lion.

Bingo Players continued their set with an infectious energy, dropping tunes that ranged from deadmau5’s “Veldt” to a Gotye remix of “Somebody That I Used To Know” (also in Hardwell and Benassi’s sets) to Stardust’s 1998 hit “The Music Sounds Better With You.” Typical EDM non-lyrical chanting took over the venue for Sebastian Ingrosso & Alesso’s “Calling,” followed by an unexpected “Middle Finger” by Cobra Starship featuring Mac Miller. Other highlights included the whole crowd singing along and clapping to David Guetta and Sia’s “Titanium,” Daft Punk’s “One More Time” mixed with will.i.am’s “Hard,” Avicii’s “Fade Into Darkness” and a new Bingo Players song entitled “Alma Mater.”

Hardwell’s set was equally flavorful with smooth transitions and a healthy combination of commercial hits and remixes. Nero’s “Promises” kicked the set into high gear, a remixed version of OneRepublic’s “Apologize” played and then Calvin Harris & Ne-Yo’s “Let’s Go” kept the energy up before Chuckie’s new tune “1, 2, 3, 4” made the crowd sweaty. One of the most memorable transitions was fun.’s “We Are Young” mixed into Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “By The Way” and finally deadmau5’s “Ghosts ‘N Stuff.” The best of the set was by far Swedish House Mafia’s “Greyhound” spun into Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” flowing into a totally bananas “Kick Out The Epic Motherf*****” by Dada Life. Tiesto’s “Maximal Crazy” made an appearance as well as Shermanology’s “Can’t Stop Me Now” and finally Knife Party’s booty-shaking, “Jaws”-like “Sleaze.”

Benny Benassi stayed true to house music with a set that strayed with minimal commercial selections to the most of the crowd’s delight. The Italian DJ did manage to sprinkle in Calvin Harris’ “Feel So Close,” Gotye and a lively Laidback Luke remix of Benassi’s most recent international hit “Cinema” intertwined with the Skrillex dubstep drop, as the crowd joined in on the lyrics. One of the more intense moments of the set was during Italian duo Nari & Milani’s epic hammer-drumming “Atom.”

The mood was up the whole night at Benny Benassi & Friends, beating the forecast EDM style. Be sure to check Made Event dates throughout the summer with headliners Laidback Luke (ELEKTRO IS GIVING AWAY TO TICKETS TO SEE HIM), Dash Berlin, Robbie Rivera, Gareth Emery, Electric Zoo and more.

Photos by Andrew Rauner

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