Hi all,

I promised a report of the party and so, here I am. I have some short video clips I will upload later, but wanted to give my official report.

It was an interesting show, and got so packed once Armin's set started that i was getting mangled constantly against the barricade at the front of the stage. I was front and center and extremely loud and animated the entire time, and on numerous occasions Armin looked me straight in the eyes, and seemed to be encouraging me, which was cool. I wanted to thank him for the difference his early shows had made in my life, and tried to convey that with my own smile and nod.

I think AVB is one of the most talented souls in the entire universe of Trance, I really do, however, to be completely honest, as much as I loved basking in his presence and looking at him straight in the eyes, the show itself was pretty disappointing. That's really the only word I can come up with... disappointing.

Ticket prices at this venue were 4 times more expensive than all other artists' shows, including Markus Schulz a couple weeks ago... No DJ started spinning until about 10:30 pm, an hour and a half after the show was supposed to start. At 10:30 KhoMha took the stage and did a cool set... not too much Trance but had a few good tracks mixed in. The crowd was pretty light at this point but we were all getting into it.

Finally, a bit after midnight, Armin took the stage and began a set that can only be described as the loudest, most bassy, most obnoxious set I've heard. I am extremely glad I brought my professional-grade earplugs because my hearing would be dead due to the sheer volume of the entire show. We were all extremely excited and screaming at the top of our lungs, and I was elated to realize my lifelong dream of seeing Armin LIVE. As the show got going though, I became pretty disappointed.

Track after track of Trouse and Pop were played, with no real good beats to tie the tracks together. I kept waiting for him to play some actual Trance, and aside from a few minutes when he dropped 2 tracks back-to-back with a good tie-in, there was none to be found in this show.

I stayed at the front center of the stage for about an hour and a half, and then left to use the restroom and get a drink. From there I went up to the balcony VIP section and got a nice viewpoint of the show. After an entirely too short of a time, pretty much right at 2am, Armin shut the show down and played one last track. The show ended at about 2:05am, pretty much exactly 2 hours after it started.

Stereo Live is notorious for artists spinning tracks well past the "official" 2am closing time... Paul van Dyk went until about 3am, Ferry Corsten went until after 4!!! Even Markus, who had done a marathon "open to close" set starting at 9pm went until almost 3am. But Armin took off after barely 2 hours of Trouse.

He stayed behind to sign a few autographs and shake a few hands after the show, but with the crowd swarming him I decided to leave, like I had done with the other 3 artists at previous shows... I had really wanted to shake his hand and tell him that he had made a huge difference in my life, and maybe had even saved it since I really got going with ASOT during a horrible traumatic time for me... but in all honesty, I couldn't. I was so disappointed I just couldn't hang around to wait for the chance.

The Armin of today is not the same Armin that defined Trance all those years ago... but, be it fame, fortune, boredom, or whatever else causes legends such as him to change, I am still glad to have seen him in person, front and center, right smack in front of his face, and looking at him eye-to-eye. This show wasn't an end for me... it was a beginning. Now that the whole "I HAVE TO SEE ARMIN LIVE" dream has been realized, I can REALLY start diving into Trance and start going to see new, local, unheard-of artists. This weekend I'm even thinking of going to a club in Houston called "Kryptonite" which is about as close as you can get to a true underground Rave environment while still being an official club... dirty, grimy, probably drugs everywhere, and lots and lots and LOTS of dancing to awesome EDM... I am so there.

I'll upload some clips and add some videos to this thread later. I'll be glad to answer any questions. Thanks in advance for reading my review.

Edward

Hi mate, great read! I'm glad you've been able to realize your dream. Sorry to hear Armin was disappointing though. It's indeed nothing compared to some years ago. It's the reason I decided not to see him anymore, unless it's a WAO138 set. Like this I still keep the memories of all the great sets I've seen from him. I lost count, but it must've been somewhere around 20 times, maybe more. And most of them were great. But from the last couple of years only his WAO138 sets at ASOT NL were worth going. But hey, you've done it! I agree when Armin plays, there's really somebody playing. His appearance is impressive because of the fact that he's a trance legend and therefor alone I'm sure you thought it was worth going there.

Concerning KhoMha, I've seen him 3 times, music-wise, the 1st time was the best time, his music style went downhill, but even tho I don't like his music much anymore, I still love seeing him perform. The energy he's bringing to the crowd, his constant big smile, it's infectious. No matter what music he plays, his sets are a real joy. I'm curious if you agree with that.