This Saturday night at the Vancouver Convention
Center Armin van Buuren and Morgan Page played to a crowd of over six thousand,
the crowning jewel of Blueprint’s second annual Seasons Festival.
As you entered the Convention Center’s main hall you
were struck by the feeling that you were a part of something elusive in
Vancouver: the event gave off the atmosphere of a much larger American/European
Festival.
Filling in as co-headliner Morgan Page helmed the DJ
booth with fierce conviction
--
Steve Angello had to fly off because his wife went into labour, but it was clear that Page was not
going to let the audience suffer.
Dancing
angels adorned the stage, wings alight with LEDs. A steady stream of heavy melodic
beats got the crowd's
heart racing as we
danced under a sea of brilliant lights.
Page kept impeccable timing. He knew exactly when to
cut away from hard electro beats and transition into surprisingly tender
moments giving the audience a momentary break from rocking their hearts out. As the exceptionally peaceful
moment of
Adele’s Set Fire to
the Rain gave
way to Tiesto and Steve Aoki’s Tornado,
the
music was drowned out in cheers and
the crowd became lost in bass.
From the VIP area the unobstructed view of the stage
was priceless: this was
hands down the best lightshow Vancouver had ever seen -- better than HSBC’s
Celebration of Lights. With a cold beer resting on my private table I felt as
though I was in one of the world’s largest clubs.
Kaskade’s Eyes belted over the sound system, the
tempo
ramped up, and
the night reached a new level. The crowd became enveloped in elegance, fully
aware they were witnessing something unimaginably unique. As the track took a turn you felt
bass reverberate through the floor and up your legs. With their own personal
dance floor VIP’ers were free to dance in pairs unobstructed, as general
admission heaved and swayed in unison feeding on each other’s energy in optimum
of communal vitality.
As Page wrapped
up his set and the lights faded it became clear Blueprint was offering two separate experiences. The swanky no lines VIP
club escape and the Electric Daisy Carnival special.
It was time for Armin and skepticism clouded my
mind. How could any one man live up to the hype of being the undisputed
greatest DJ alive?
Then Armin stepped onto the stage and I suddenly
agreed with the majority. Armin is rightfully the world’s greatest. The energy
in the room was like nothing I had ever felt before: it was alive. Buzzing with
electric anticipation—a mixture of excitement and ecstasy.
Most EDM events attract diehard party-goers but
tonight VCC was filled with music lovers. Thousands of people who were about to
see their idol.
Armin is
still the reason why millions
around the world discover and continue to love electronic dance music.
He commands a presence that is not to be denied. Torrents
of never-ending energy give the audience no choice but to live in the moment. Time
freezes and just as you feel like you are going to run out of energy his music
recharges you and you realize that you could dance forever.
His
drops are tantalizing. At first you wait patiently. Then, you are overtaken.
You beg
Armin to drop the beat. You need it. At
the same time,
you have to trust him, his timing is perfect: he doesn’t read the audience, he
knows what they want before they do.
For
most of the set you felt as though you were walking through a euphoric wonderland
of radiant transcending light. Suddenly a switch flips and the bass drops. The exuberant world you were
blissfully indulging in is
sucked
into a dark vacuum. It was a ride to remember.
Playing
for two and a half hours Armin van Buuren gave Vancouver a true DJ experience. We were privileged to take a journey
through his fantastical mind and none of us wanted it to end.
Hands
down, this was
Vancouver’s best DJ production and perhaps the best DJ set I have ever seen.
I
can’t wait till Seasons Festival 2013.
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