I got to LaGuava rather late due to getting stuck in Beirut's horrible Friday night traffic. As I was walking in, AMADEUS had already reached the last quarter of his warm-up set, and he was playing one of my all-time favorites - Art Of Trance ~ Breathe, followed by AOT's latest masterpiece Turkish Bizarre (the complete warm-up tracklist is posted down below). All I can say about the warm-up is that it was just what the crowd needed to get in the mood for the experience to come, and I could easily see it on people's faces that they were very much enjoying every single track AMADEUS threw in.
At about 12:30, two-thirds of Above & Beyond arrived on location - Jono Grant & Tony McGuinness. As any professional DJ would have done, they took a long gaze at the crowd to study what these 1000 people were anticipating, then they had a small chat with AMADEUS telling him "we wish we could've arrived earlier to listen to your entire warm-up set, the last couple of tracks you were playing are just sensational", which once again re-asserts AMADEUS' status as a world-class DJ. Stay tune for more very good news from the man himself in the next couple of days.
Jono & Tony took on the stage and opened up their set with a beautiful selection of Progressive Trance, thus progressively building their crowd up. There is no point in even mentioning their mixing skills, instead I will focus on their track selection. A&B played a 4-hour set which included every sub-genre of Trance - from Progressive to Melodic to Uplifting to Vocal to Tech, with the exception of Psychedelic Trance of course (to SamEr's and electro-sam's disappointment
). A&B are known for their melodic influences; that can be seen in both their sets and their productions. But whenever superstar DJs have a gig in a country for the first time, they tend to test different sub-genres of Trance as to see which genre the crowd reacts to the most. And this exactly what A&B did - to their surprise and to our joy, the crowd reacted brilliantly to every style they played, and enjoyed the full hours of their set.
This surely impressed A&B, especially when they threw in some Vocal Trance tunes and found individuals (mostly from TranceHits.com of course) singing along the lyrics. It was clear on their faces and in their body-language that they were both impressed by and enjoying the Lebanese crowd - Tony couldn't stop smiling and dancing, Jono couldn't stop just pausing every once in a while and getting all emotional with the crowd. What I can say about this particular parameter of the gig is that we truly showed A&B that Lebanon has a giant Trance potential...
...and TranceHits.com showed them that we not only enjoy the music, but are pretty damn educated too! That was proved when the time was just right and A&B were finishing off their Progressive section of the set. It was at that magical moment when your dear Moderator & official reviewer walked up to Dan Harper with two genius ideas in mind. I had already written down on my cell-phone two track requests, which I believed would fit in perfectly with what was being played at the moment. The tracks were Tilt ~ The World Doesn't Know, and White Room ~ The White Room. Dan walked up to Tony and handed him my cell-phone. Tony read the requests, smiled, asked Dan who it was who requested them, looked at me with a huge smile on his face and noded his head in agreement. I was truly impressed that they were so humble to take requests from the crowd; but of course, Tony only accepted because he himself knew as well that these tracks would fit in perfectly.
The reason why I said that we showed them that we are musically-educated is because I requested two very new, very nice, and very fitting tracks, thus proving to them that we are updated ("very new"), that we got taste ("very nice"), and that we are experienced in Trance and deejaying ("very fitting"). But that's not even the best part! When Tony read my message, Jono was already spinning a very sweet proggy; to my astonishment, Tony took over the decks and threw both of my requested tracks immediately and back-to-back! The crowd went nuts, and I myself almost shed a tear. You should've seen bxtreme's reaction when White Room was thrown in... At that moment (which was my personal climax of the night), Dan Harper was kind enough to take on the mic and shout out "A BIG HELLO TO ALL THE TRANCEHITS.COM MEMBERS OUT THERE!". At that moment we were all gathered in front with our TranceHits.com t-shirts on (which you will see soon enough in the photos). Truly emotional.
The night went on with some amazingly nice and new Trance being played, from different sub-genres as I previously mentioned. Naturally, we could only figure out about 75% of the entire tracklist, since all big DJs are obligated to spin unreleased material, especially if they own a record company like AnjunaBeats! But have faith in your TranceHits.com crew my friends, we did manage to assemble 75% of the what played which is a very good percentage.
A&B kept on delivering tune after tune, turning LaGuava into a spaceship that took its crowd of a thousand in a voyage into Trance. Their crowd-interaction was top-notch - always smiling, always dancing, always enjoying the music and the crowd's reaction. They really looked like DJs who are there to play music because they love playing music, unlike certain other DJs who just go on the decks like they're machines at work. They were supposed to stop at 4AM to give way to AMADEUS for his follow-up set, but it seems they were so thrilled and impressed by the crowd that they decided to continue spinning themselves! Don't worry about AMADEUS, he wasn't too saddened with that, he just spent the rest of the night dancing like a madman!
it was alread 4:20 and we still had not heard No One On Earth. We knew that they would play it eventually, but we simply couldn't wait anymore, especially with 10 minutes left on the clock, we couldn't take the risk! It was then that I took out a big white paper from my pocket (which I had prepared "just in case"), took a big black pen, wrote NO ONE ON EARH on it, climbed on DIPPS' shoulders, and held it sky high within the eye range of both Tony & Jono. They looked at me, smiled again, and immediately threw that baby in! That was the crowd's climax of the night! We were really impressed that so many people present there actually knew such a new Trance release, and so were Tony & Jono! It was a truly emotional moment seeing a big number of the crowd singin along this sweet vocal trancer; Tony even made the "bow down" sign to us, showing us that we truly touched. They played NOOE until its last beat, and the music went off. Rounds of applause went up in the air, for the crowd had taken its much-needed dose of quality Trance...
...but TranceHits.com hadn't! As soon as the applause went down and A&B were getting ready to pack and leave, monstrous shouts from TranceHits.com members went up in the air. One word, just one word was being shouted by a dozen of trancers: "SATELLITE! SATELLITE!! SATELLITE!!!". Tony & Jono, who at that moment had their backs turned towards the dancefloor, turned their heads, looked at each other, looked at their watch (whcih was already past 4:30), and I could swear over my life that I could read Tony's lips whispering to Jono: "what the fuck...", of course not in a negative "what the fuck do they want", but in a positive "what the fuck let's do this". And they did it. They took out that vinyl out of nowhere and threw in the angelic Satellite. I cannot even describe the crowd's reaction then, nor the security guards' reaction who truly hated our guts at that instant
But it still wasn't over! Above & Beyond were so impressed by, thrilled with, and amazed by the Lebanese tracers that they took out a bunch of their AnjunaBeats vinyls and started handing them out! Their first choice was, naturally, everyone wearing the TranceHits.com t-shirt, for it was quite obvious throughout the night that were the tranciest people out there, but practically everyone who was still there at that late hour received a vinyl. AMADEUS then rushed up to the stage, and re-took the vinyls given to TranceHits.com, and got Tony & Jono to sign them for us! So yes, DIONYSOS is now a proud owner of the Endre ~ Kallocain vinyl signed by the two and only Jono Grant & Tony McGuinness! Now that's something to remember for years to come!
All in all, it was by far the greatest Trance experience for Lebanese trancers. I may be speaking for myself when I say this, but I think every trancer out there is nodding his|her head in agreement. So once again, MixFM & Bacardi Breezer have organized a perfect night (except for the lousy security guys out there who are better off bouncing at some Wassouf shitty gathering), and we thank them for that and hope this isn't the last of these quality events. We also wish to thank AMADEUS for that breathtaking warm-up set and for getting us those untimely autographs, and finally, on behalf of the TranceHits.com crew, members, and every Lebanese trancer out there I say: Above & Beyond - thank you for the music.
TranceHits.come members present @ LaGuava:
AMADEUS
maDJam
johnny
electro-sam
SamEr
DIONYSOS
TRANCExual
Dreamboy
bxtreme
MalcomX
Lza
pTq
Psychadelic Cowboy
DJ FADE
DIPPS
commando
hasneez
hass
rudy
rudy_saadi
Janomeg
If I left anyone out please let me know so I edit the list.
AMADEUS' warm-up set {100% COMPLETE & in correct order}:
Untitled ~ Zenon [AZGR Remix]
Blue Room Project ~ Still Stare
Bart van Wissen ~ Unforseen [Madoka Remix]
Whitelabel ~ Kosh
Probspot ~ Foreplay
Madoka ~ Distant Memories [Mathew Dek Remix]
Shane 54 ~ VV3 [Pink Flood Mix]
Michael Lanning ~ Bound For Ascention [Thomas Penton Remix]
Bobina ~ Lazy World
Ronski Speed ~ E.O.S. [Positive Ways Mix]
Myth ~ Millionfold
Ian van Dahl ~ Where Are You [M.I.K.E. Instrumental Mix]
Airwave ~ When Things Go Wrong
Art Of Trance ~ Breathe
Art Of Trance ~ Turkish Bizarre
Elevation ~ Clear Blue
York ~ I Need You
Amiel ~ Love Song [Scumfrog Remix]
Paul van Dyk ~ For An Angel
Satochie Tomiee ~ Love in Traffic
White Stripes ~ Seven Nation Army [Chris Liebing Remix]
Above & Beyond's set {75% COMPLETE due to some unreleased tracks & not in correct order due to Bacardi Breezer...}:
Probspot ~ Foreplay
Elevation ~ Clear Blue
White Room ~ The White Room
Tilt ~ The World Doesnt Know
Remy & Roland Klinkenberg ~ Till Ya Drop
The Thrillseekers ~ Synaesthesia [Ferry Corsten Remix]
Masters & Nickson ~ Fifth Dimension
Thomas Datt ~ 2v2 [Robert Nickson Remix]
Roland Klinkenberg ~ Monday Groove
Smith & Pledger ~ Believe
Mike Shiver & Elevation ~ Hurricane (Dub Mix)
Tranquility Base ~ Surrender
sander van Doorn ~ Dark Roast
Delerium ~ Silence [Above & Beyond Remix] *they murdered the crowd with this one!*
Above & Beyond ~ No One On Earth
Madonna ~ What It Feels Like For A Girl [Above & Beyond Remix]
Oceanlab ~ Satellite
Darren Tate ~ Let the Light Shine in
Ferry Corsten ~ Sweet Sorrow [Album Extended Remix]
Ferry Corsten ~ Holding On
Whirlpool & Octagen - Alaska [Octagen Mix]
Dido ~ Sand In My Shoes [Above & Beyond Remix]
ALT+F4 ~ ALT+F4
Signum ~ The Timelord
But those of you who like trance music!
8)
