It's been long since I last wrote a review. It's been even longer since I last wrote a review immediately after coming back home. That's how good tonight was. (It's also facilitated by the fact that parties in Dubai are compelled to stop at 3AM, so I landed home at 3:30, not around noontime as I would in Beirut).
I will quote my good friend Trancestral's opening line in his review of AvB in Doha, just one night before Dubai: ARMIN IS THE ONE.
Anyone who's been on TH long enough might recall my review for Armin's Beirut gig in 2005 that many people consider to be my best review to date. Well, that's for a damn good reason. His long set in Beirut left us all entranced (as no other word could possibly do it more justice), and it wasn't all too different tonight in Dubai, except that it was shorter.
Peppermint Experience were behind the event, they're pretty much the best in town when it comes to EDM. It was hosted in a huge club called The Lodge that's divided into several mini-clubs, each with its own name/design/music, with the external outdoor arena called Chi, where all the magic happened. Prior to Armin I had seen Nick Warren, Christopher Lawrence, and Marcus Schossow in that very same place. It's beautifully designed with a massive sound system. Some might disagree with me here, but the crowd was much better than the usual crowd you get in Beirut: no underaged, no emos, no shirts off, barely any noticeable drug use, equitable male/female ratio, super hot chicks, while the energy level and interaction was easily comparable to what you get in Lebanon, something I was really surprised with, as the Dubai crowd is usually dull... Perhaps this was because half of Lebanon showed up! Warm up was by DJ Remy who seriously impressed me, playing strictly Techno, but that Techno with the hard kick and an intensive use of melody, so at one point I felt I was behind the decks myself! My highlight was Sasha - Coma (Gabe & Dimitri Nakov remix).
But that's all details. Minor, trivial details. The night was clearly all about Armin, the way it was intended to be. As soon as he showed up behind the decks, even before taking control, the crowd was roaring with energy and excitement, yelling out his name from the top of their lungs. Famous for his exquisite choice of intros, Armin opened with Rank 1 - L.E.D. There Be Light, and the energy level did not drop once ever since. Starting off with slightly short of an hour's worth of Progressive Trance, track by track I was realizing that Armin is still as melodic as when I last saw him in 2005. His track selection was so tasteful and fresh too, reasserting to the the doubters that Trance sounds are far from being outdated or repetitive. Building up the after about an hour or so he had already peaked, and he maintained that peak throughout his set, alternating between mostly Uplifting Trance and some Tech Trance every once in a while to ignite the masses, while the overall theme of the set was melody, with a lot of aggressive basslines, and a non-exaggerated use of vocals. Armin's quite famous for his energetic interaction (that some consider to be acting but that's another story), and it was precisely the case tonight as he never stood still for a second, not even during his transitions, not did he stop smiling, to the point that got me wondering if his cheeks hurt after his performances! It's really hard to put into words the sensations that Armin's set radiated across the energy fields, but it's really something that only Trance can induce. Love it or hate it, you can not deny that the purpose of Trance music is entirely different that other EDM genres - it's M first, D second. Which other genre gives you that energy outburst stemming straight from your guts, making it way up to you throat and prompting you to scream something out and start jumping? And the mental state that Trance enraptures a crowd into is truly a psycho-social phenomenon worthy of bewilderment, all you see is smiles surrounding you... Other genres serve other purposes that Trance does not deliver as good as House or Techno or whatever, but when it comes to MUSIC that moves your FEELINGS, Trance is still above and beyond all other EDM genres, and as long as there will be human beings driven by emotion, Trance will always remain the master of its game; luckily, there will all always be human beings driven by emotion, which is why the expression "Trance Is Dead" is void and obsolete. At least not while Armin is still serving his term as the Trance ambassador of the globe. A 10/10 set rated by an extremely conservative trancer who's been living off this music for over a decade now (me, in case you didn't draw that conclusion), which is why I'll be flying to Lebanon when Armin's there just to re-experience his altered state of consciousness, his higher State Of Trance.
See you all soon... in Beirut!!! \o/
Incomplete Tracklist:
L.E.D. There Be Light
Need To Feel Loved
Sliding Off The World
Children
Unforgivable
Lost
In & Out Of Love (mashup with a crazy techtrancer from last year that I recognized but couldn't ID)
Smack My Bitch Up vs Radio Crash
This Is That vs Silence (one of the best mashups I've ever heard)
Going Wrong
INTRO VIDEO COMING SOON