Last night was a night of superlatives, as the world's No1 DJ Armin Van Buuren welcomed thousands of people to join him and other dance-trance heavyweights in the world's biggest club for A State Of Trance Opening. Joined by Dash Berlin, Cosmic Gate and Jochen Miller, this was always going to be a combination worth raving over.
Jochen Miller broke in the decks, standing in for W & W who unfortunately were unable to play, but he played a strong set, and as he hasn't been confirmed for any of this season's A State Of Trance line ups it was great to have a chance to see him on the spaceship-like contraption that is Privilege's stage. Dash Berlin's set was definitely a highlight of the night, and front man Jeffrey Sutorius had the crowd singing its lungs out along to a banging set full of heavy bass and vocals, with a nod to infamous noughties dance tracks such as Motorcycle's ‘As The Rush Comes' and his and Jonathan Mendelsohn's track ‘Better Half Of Me'. Even without the help of his ‘This Is Ibiza' lyrics you couldn't have mistaken the vibes in Privilege last night for anywhere else. Finally Dash dropped Darude's ‘Sandstorm', getting everyone's ‘trance arms' in the air and acting as a great anticipative drum roll to welcome Armin to the stage.
Even on a stage and indeed a club so vast as this one, Armin's presence and enthusiasm filled the room. He shouted out to the crowd, welcoming them to his night and encouraging them with lines like ‘if you are in a state of trance, put your hands up!' This is the first time I have witnessed a DJ addressing a crowd of this size in this atmosphere, and it created a familiarity and an intimacy between Armin and the crowd that was really refreshing, one of the reasons that could explain why he has been voted the world's No1 DJ five times since 2007. His belief that dance music is about bringing people together is apparent from his constant dancing and grinning behind the decks as he played a blend of old and new, including his track ‘Not Giving Up On Love' and his newer single with Trevor Guthrie, ‘This Is What It Feels Like'. The atmosphere was ecstatic and arguably one of the best I've seen so far this summer, and it's refreshing to see people so joyful and giving into the music, something that seems to come hand in hand with this genre full of euphoric strings and emotive vocals.
The red-sequinned Privilege dancers and acrobats were out in full force, and the graphics were as impressive as ever, with a fascinating mix of modern art work, DNA double helixes, Star Wars-like scenes and the New York sky line.
German trance duo Cosmic Gate played the sunrise set and had no problems keeping the same euphoric atmosphere that Armin had created, playing a set of both remixes and their own tracks until everyone was truly tranced out. Well, until next week that is. Being in A State Of Trance is definitely something everyone needs to experience, and I think we can expect yet another brilliant year from the world's favourite DJ.
