Monster Massive turnout is just that

A near-capacity crowd of more than 15,000 people who jammed the L.A. Sports Arena on Saturday for the seventh annual Monster Massive provided both the best and most frustrating aspects of L.A.’s biggest gathering of ghouls and grooves.

The throng provided an impressive moment as German trance DJ Paul Van Dyk took the stage at 2:15 Sunday morning for his headlining appearance. The crowd stretched from the front of the stage to the back of the venue and spilled out on all sides, an awesome sight from high in the arena’s seats as thousands brightened up the floor with their fluorescent lights.

Awesome -- until you tried to negotiate the bottleneck to sample one of three other stages going at the same time and each featuring its own quality headliner: venerable N.Y. house music DJ Roger Sanchez, Brazilian drum and bass tag-team Marky and XRS, and Russia’s DJ Vadim spinning hip-hop in his own quirky style.

At the height of the crush, it took nearly 15 minutes to make it downstairs from the drum and bass stage through the crowd to get out to the house music stage.

Those who did have the patience to move from stage to stage (and the jams did little to dampen the mood of most of the revelers, who again embraced the event with a variety of costumes, military uniforms being particularly popular) were rewarded with a taster’s sampling of quality dance music.

Before the top draws took their respective stages, BBC Radio One favorite Judge Jules worked the main stage area into a near frenzy with his progressive beats, while AK1200 had the drum & bass area grooving.

The headliners proved worthy of their status, Sanchez continuing his run of impressive L.A. appearances with a set that covered house, funk, disco and world music. And Van Dyk’s signature large synthesizer trance hooks were a natural fit for the large floor and kept the crowd packed until closing time.

Off the beaten path, both musically and in the venue, Marky and XRS followed their impressive set at last year’s Nocturnal Wonderland, each weaving together the warm, inviting grooves of Brazil with the frenetic energy of drum and bass. There was even room to dance.