Early in 2010 the Save Our Souls Events brand was founded by Wojtek Sobolewski, formerly known as TEKNO in the dance music scene. In partnership with Kunstpark Köln, a local club situated in the north of Cologne (Germany) the Save Our Souls event-series was started to reintroduce regular Trance & Progressive nights into Cologne’s Night Life. This promising partnership brought Save Our Souls and the Kunstpark Köln to new heights, placing it on the German Trance music enthusiast’s map, who were seeking and craving their dose of high quality trance sounds being absent for many years in the local event market.
It was in 2014 when Wojtek decided to team up with HeavensGate’s Boss and Label Owner Woody van Eyden to create something never-seen-before: The brand Legendary Festival was born which was supposed to be a collaboration of 4 different trance brands all made in Germany: Save Our Souls, HeavensGate, Trance.Mission and Spirit of the 90s. The Legendary Festival had it’s first edition in the famous Butan Club in Wuppertal, while Trancers from all-around-the-country and abroad made sure to visit this outstanding Festival with over 25 DJs in the lineup. Due to major success, the brand continued to develop and in 2015 the Legendary Festival was consequently invited to host a Stage at the world-famous Nature One Festival in Germany.
Just at at this time Wojtek met Benjamin Reichert from Musical Madness, a visionaire and enthusiast who was already promoting successful Hardstyle Events in the best venue of Cologne, the Bootshaus. Together, they started to make plans for a Trance & Progressive night. After successful events with Cosmic Gate, Markus Schulz and Paul van Dyk, it became clear that a new brand-name would be a logical step and together they created AWAKE and therefore brand and the club nights relocated to the much promising Bootshaus in 2016.
This was a bold move which resulted in serious success, following events with ATB & Markus Schulz, Aly & Fila, Paul van Dyk, Above & Beyond, Gareth Emery, Cosmic Gate, Andrew Rayel, Richard Durand, Emma Hewitt, Rank 1, Mark Sixma & Gabriel & Dresden as well as many, many more. For the first time in Cologne’s nightlife history the following Trance events, AWAKE XXL, Above & Beyond Group Therapy Cologne and 20Years of Cosmic Gate were fully sold-out shows with 2000 attendees each and plenty of other multi-line-up club shows are testaments to the above statement.
2019 was a unique and fruitful year for the brand as the concept of AWAKE was invited to host a Stage at the famous Parookaville Festival in Airport Weeze. During this Stage hosting AWAKE featured acts like ATB, Above & Beyond, Paul van Dyk, ilan Bluestone, Talla 2XLC and many more. Its success was much more than anyone expected, boasting the crazy amount of over 6000 party goers from all over the world and gathering at the Cloud Factory at Parookaville for a night that remained carved in their hearts and memories alike.
In 2020 it was time to go abroad and AWAKE Croatia was born and was supposed to take place in Zrce Beach. Due to the worldwide pandemic and other, unforeseen trademark related circumstances, AWAKE was forced to rename itself to SENSES. Onto the next year SENSES returned for a celebration of trance music and an undeniable stepping stone for the brand, which would ultimately cement its legacy furthermore in the world of clubland.
In 2022 a new brand called RiSE has appeared on the horizon, introducing a new concept to bring back the joy of Trance, Rave and Melodic Techno to all the party goers in Cologne and nearby. Stay tuned for many exciting events to come in the near future and let’s bring dance music back with a bang!