While a bit of rock mixed into the All Night Fuji event was welcomed, the night is famous for being a dance party. There’s no better way to get the masses dancing than by including one of the old masters of dance music, one half of legendary dance music unit, Phil Hartnoll of Orbital.

Orbital as a group dates back to the late 80’s and have conquered just about everything in the world of dance music. They’ve headlined major festivals around the world, won numerous awards, they’ve broken up, had a comeback then broken up again. This is Orbital’s current situation, the 2 brothers make music and perform separately. To say Phil Hartnoll has experience rocking a party would be a bit of an understatement.

It was no surprise that the Cafe de Paris stage was overflowing the whole set through. Hartnoll was billed to be playing an Orbital set and that’s pretty much what we got for 50 minutes strong. Phil had the classic Orbital look going too. With his twin headlamps sitting on his head bobbing up and down, he slayed the Cafe with techno goodness, dropping tunes both recent and from 30 years ago.

As with most electronic music, feeling the bass and the music is important. The system in the Cafe, while not massive, held its own to the rising and falling assault of beats Phil dropped. There was also a massive screen behind Phil displaying well thought out and overly trippy visuals from landscapes to dancers and more.

In terms of music, there were a few classic Orbital omissions and the set didn’t have a live element, nor was it anywhere as technical as some Orbital sets in the past. That said, all the most important aspects were still there. Crafting an electronic set is often about tune selection and taking your audience on a journey. That’s exactly what’s kept Phil and his brother Paul so popular, both as Orbital and separately for the past 25 years and beyond.

While there were a few space issues in the Cafe preventing the crowd to really let loose and bust a move, Phil Hartnoll’s Orbital set still took hold of everyone within striking distance. Fans both inside and outside the venue, swayed, jumped, clapped and stopped their feet to pay tribute to one of the original techno masters. It was a high energy, non-stop set that made sure people felt satisfied with the anticipated return of All Night Fuji. The trip to the end of the festival grounds is quite a mission, but Phil Hartnoll’s Orbital set made sure it was a mission worth taking.