After having good fun at beyond wonderland socal last year, I went back this year and it was definitely fun again. This time, we stayed in Ontario since it was a lot cheaper and taking the shuttle wasn't so bad (even if friday LA traffic sucks). All in all, staying in Ontario was not a bad choice given the limited ok hotels in San Bernardino.
shuttles were well organized overall
Show starts early-ish at 17:00, due to 02:00 curfew, lots of sun :)
Festival Grounds
Beyond wonderland is known for its beautiful decors. This year did not disappoint either:
Great to see sunset:
and of course, looks great at night, and fun to play with the decors:
People
One thing Insomniac really does well is the amount of costumed perfomers. Fun to take pictures with them:
And other fun things :)
People still did a great job bringing their own costumes:
it was cold, not sure how people came wearing almost nothing :)
some tried harder than others :)
Fun pictures with friends:
Day #1
Day 1 was random "not trance" day, so went to see random DJs at random stages ;)
Actually we did have Audien on the first day, nice set with tight mixes:
Also Tiesto happened, it was actually an ok set.
Then left a few minutes early to make it to the shuttle line back before it got too long:
Video of Day #1:
Day #2
Day #2 was the trance day at Cheshire Woods:
Checking out mainstage before the crowds got there:
And on Dreamstate Day, we of course had a Trancefamily Meetup:
Waiting for the night, as always :)
kids, don't forget :)
Great to get a few more pictures with favorite DJs :)
even Ulrich :)
And just like that, it was 02:00 again, and time to go home (or back to the shuttle):
Thanks to insomniac for organizing all of this and all the people who participated with costumes and good vibes.
Video of Day #2:
Should you go? Would I go Back?
If you can, yes. For me? yes, probably (except for the conflict with Miami Music Festival)
Decors are just fantastic, along with the many theme appropriate performers. That's the best part about Beyond Wonderland
Like other insomniac festivals, like EDC and Dreamstate, all the staff truly cares and goes all out. MAny small details that get sometimes missed elsewhere, are usually flawless
Security is more than reasonable as usual, thank you
San Bernardino is not the best city ever, but there are only so many places such festivals can be held, especially with a 02:00 curfew. It works for me, and having shuttles to other cities, was a good idea.
17:00 to 02:00 is 2x 9H with as much nighttime as sound restrictions will allow. Plus, if you really wanted, there was an afterparty.
6 stages is more than I would normally want, but totally different music, so conflicts were not really an issue
Trance was a bit on the light side this year, actually for me the lineup was weaker than last year's but givne all the above, still had a fantastic time.
Is it worth flying across the world for? I would go to EDC first, and then Dreamstate for the music (despite lesser decors and costumes compared to BW), but if you are able to fly there, it's definitely a fun festival to attend.
Another storm, a bit warm, but just cold enough to give usable snow instead of half rain, so I drove up to go enjoy it for a few days:
roads were already nice and white on the way up
Carson Spur was quite loaded
Impressive wall of snow
thankful to have underground parking for the duration of my trip
another impressive wall of snow
glad to be back on the lift
I arrived by noon on sunday, new snow was starting to cover the frozen crust underneath:
lots of snow, the top of cornice had some almost invisible real cornices like that, I fell down from that one
met Johannes for a few runs
school run was a rounding error
it was still a bit too warm and wet
by the end of the day, things looked good though :)
When I got to my condo, I was reminded that it had snowed a bit recenty:
Monday: Kirkwood
While sunday was wet and cold, Monday was a nice bluebird:
Kirkwood has a real problem with electric charging, this is the only charger left on the entire property
nice powder
notice the huge pile of storage snow by the parking lots
got one of the first few chairs up the wall. Wee!
interestingly, the top of the chutes by the wall were bare due to wind blowing the snow away
this is the one time I had to unbind that day :)
Palisades was good too
Another picture of the storage snow pile in the parking lot
Cornice run, a bit rough at the top, but opened up to be good lower down:
Straight down run from the wall, a bit firm at the top too, but good after that:
Wall tree run:
The backside just opened, so I went to check it out:
pretty big cornice by the wave
it was a bit of a jump into snow that wasn't exactly a pillow underneath :)
I got down, but it was a bit scary :)
snow as wind packed at the top, deeper lower down
Tuesday: Kirkwood
Tuesday got more snow, which was free refills all day
the wall had so much snow that they gated you to come down before the chairs, the regular ramp that went under, didn't fit anymore
weather and visibility improved during the day, so much snow
I literally managed to snowboard all the way back to the building parking lot across the street :)
Great pow ride off the wall:
More pow during the day, free refills:
Even face shots (1:16):
Wednesday: Heavenyly Side Country
The last day, I could have stayed at kirkwood for a 4th powder day with another foot of freshies, but I went to Heavenly to meet my friend Ovidiu and Rik joined us later for some frond side country runs. It was a bit last minute, so driving there in less than 1H in the snow, was "challenging", but I made it :)
Gondola line
got to the gate for the first run
We went back for 6 firebreak runs total:
After 6 runs, we had enough time to go back the Gondola one more time, up sky, and towards the backside:
The backside snow wasn't perfect, but it was still a good run down, especialy at the top:
Eventually got down the good parts and took a rest :)
before doing the rest of the run down, where snow became more scarce (it's melting quickly at lower altitude):
eventually we got to below the snow line and had to walk a bit
then there was a bit of snow left to finish up
and we got to the road
way too much to drive back
thankfully we got luck with hitch hiking
25mn later, back at the gondola base, end of a great day
Thanks much to Ovidiu and Rik for joining me and the 7 powder runs
Great to have Paul van Dyk back, this time for a new label, Venture-X, more progressive and techno sounding.
Thanks to Oleksandr and Reznor for opening:
My own "I'm just going to spend 5mn to fix this" story, that lasted over 6H.
Power outage rebooted one of my energy monitors and it's now counting one of my solar arrays backwards because of an apparent bit flip in the flash (it's an old device)
10 days later I'm finally home long enough to look at this, I "just" need to connect to it via some windows only app, connect via the serial port and reprogram the lost/corrupted settings
Ah, but my only desktop/windows machine left in the house blew a capacitor on its motherboard recently, and I haven't been able to justify the time to fix it (that would be a rabbit hole on its own and I know this), so I can't use that
unfortunately that one device only works with a real serial port, not any USB-serial adapters I've been able to try (and I have 4 different brands/chips), so that prevents use of any of my laptops
oh, wait, I do have a much older thinkpad with a docking station that has a _real_ serial port, let's try this.
ok, it boots, but the windows XP partition gives some "NTLDR missing". I haven't used it in some 15 years, so I wouldn't know
ok, let's boot linux, ubuntu oneiric, oh my. Virtualbox won't work, modules are broken, I try a few of the kernels, a mix of 32bit kernels with himem for the 8GB of RAM, and some x64 kernels with 32bit userspace. None of them want to build working virtualbox modules.
apt-get install is of course broken with a weird dependency chain, not going to go to _that_ rabbithole either (see, I've learned from previous times)
maybe I can make that WXP partition boot again? Ok, I'll skip details on how that ends up in cleaning half my bedroom while looking for old boot/recovery CDs (BartPE, UBCD, etc...), another 1.5h rabbithole
eventually get the boot CDs, they also BSOD during boot, look in bios, change the SATA support from AHCI to compatible, that fixes it
fast forward through some "details", boot WXP recovery console, apply "fixboot" and "fixmbr" which of course removes the install-mbr bootloader I had installed to dual boot WXP and llinux, and was not present on my linux recovery CDs
eventually boot some linux recovery that allows me to decrypt the linux partition (luksopen), chroot into it because it's not the same binary format, and install-mbr -t 54 -v -e 14FA -p 2 -is /dev/sda
eventually get WXP to boot, for some reason the wireless support does not work anymore and can't connect. Ok, use ethernet instead and everything is so old that none fhe web browsers work, because everything is https and the ciphers are all incompatible with older browsers now
retrieve the device windows software from my normal laptop, copy it over, install it, it runs, uses the real serial port on the ultrabay, and connects to my power monitor. I revert the broken settings on the device over serial, and save them.
SUCCESS!
That only took about 6H, why it it dark outside? Oh, it's past midnight. What was I doing before that?
Since ASOT 1000 in Utrecht ended a bit early on the first night (02:00)
and started late the next day (22:00, why, oh why?), Club Peoma had nice
pre and post parties:
ASOT 1000, finally! It had to be postponed a few times due to covid, I had to rebook hotel rooms and trips, but it finally happened!
I had never been to a State of Trance in Holland, mostly because:
So far it was mostly a single day festival, not worth my flying to Europe for
Too many stages in not enough hours (about 9H). Having so many artists all at the same time, conflicting with one another, is not a win in my book
Should be at least 2x 9 hours (12h is better) with 3-4 stages at most (more stages is not more better, it's more great artists I get to watch on youtube later even though I spent thousands of dollars to be there). In some way this year's event got closer to delivering this (except the too many stages part on day 2, and for some reason starting the night at 22:00 instead of let's say 18:00)
But eh, 20 years of ASOT, with a 2 year delay due to covid, and the fact that they added a 2nd day, made it worth it enough to go.
In real life, this year was more worth the trip with a (small private) party on wednesday at the Armada studio, a boat party on thursday, a pre-party in Utrecht that inexplicably ended at 01:00 due to some venue curfew (on a friday night?), and then the main event on saturday night 22:00 to 06:00
Day 1: Pre-party, the night of real Trance
First day, it was actually a longer walk than planned, Jaarbeurs is huge and takes a long time to walk around (the entrances unfortunately being the farthest away from the train station as possible):
and VIP was an even longer walk, but signage was good
finally getting in
first day was simple :)
Due to the long walk and some delays getting in, we missed a little bit of Ruben's set, but got most of it. It was great trance as always:
After 1h, Armin took over for the best 6H classics trance set I've heard from him in more years than I can count. It was pure joy for trance lovers, although it probably also was a farewell set, the last of its kind from Armin:
we stayed front row as long as we could (the crowds got a bit out of hand after a while)
After a while, we went higher up in the side VIP stands, not the best view, but more peaceful:
Reflexion, aka mainstage, was big but the visuals were ok without being great
nice to run into friends :)
There was one other room with other good sets, but it was hard to walk away from Armin's trance set:
had to see some of FactorB
And back to mainstage to see the rest of Armin's set:
as expected, not a lot of people dressed up outside of ourselves, that's how EU festivals usually are
but we did our best to bring smiles :)
a few others, did too
the night ended with Susanna
And by 01:00, it was over. Armin actually said on the mike that they were required to stop that early. A 01:00 curfew on a major venue on a friday night? Or some other labor restriction? Hard to say, but indeed for what this could have been a full on 2 day festival, it was a bit weird. Still, let's no complain, we did have 7 hours of beautiful trance.
Day #1 Video Summary:
Day 2: A State of Techno?
Day #2 started inexplicably late, 22:00 (actually 21:00 with Ruben's warm up set). No idea why with so many DJs, it couldn't also start at 18:00 and help spread out the sets a bit more. It really would have have been fine to have this be a 12H night
Mainstage (reflexion) on day #2 turned to "a state of techno" soon after Ruben De Ronde was done playing great trance as always. Eh, it was ASOT, no one said what the 'T' stood for :)
I'm definitely more into Trance than Techno, but it's true that there is more and more overlap between the 2 genres recently, and even the radio show said they'd feature more techno, so I guess the future is now. I didn't think it was bad, I guess a bit of variety doesn't hurt and I have to keep an open mind. Also, not everyone is blessed to be a die hard trance lover, so I guess it's ok to appeal to other crowds, especially for a big event.
I do need to state that day #1 (friday) was a joyous night of Trance. Ruben delivered as always and Armin played the most beautiful classic trance set I've heard him play in more years than I can remember (which was of course the plan), so I wasn't bothered that he played a lot of more techno-ish things on saturday. To me, it's pretty clear that Armin wants to evolve beyond just trance, and he knows that he if wants to remain somewhere at the top of the DJ100 chart, he has to play more mainstage stuff and more genres, even if his original fans might not love some of it. I can't say I can blame him for that, it is what is is.
So for Day 2, arrived early in the main room to secure a good viewing spot:
it got filled quickly
Ruben opened the night, and arguably got the best spot since he had no one playing at the same time. Lovely set again:
After Ruben's set was over, was time to go check out other stages, some were somewhat of a walk away:
nice to run into friends
Went to check out other stages:
would have loved to see Xiaro Pitch, but conflicts made that not possible
would also have liked to see all these sets, only saw 2
wasn't able to see any of these
the stages sometimes a bit confusing to find, but signage helped
oh yeah, merch
Back to mainstage, a state of techno:
found one person with an LED outfit, mine was supposed to say because I'm not hipster enough for techno
After Armin's mostly techno on mainstage, went to see Craig Connelly's lovely trance set at cube:
we even ran into Chris again
Unexpectedly, sphere shown full for a while when we tried to go see Armin play there, but thankfully it re-opened after a short while:
unexpectedly ran into my friend Aryel for ust a few seconds before she disappeared again :)
After a bit of Armin's 2nd set, back to mainstage to see the end of Ferry Corsten, and then Vini Vici:
After it became way too much techno, we went to finish the night at sphere with Bryan Kearney:
and just like that, 06:00 happened and the night was over, time to run to the airport to get our flight back to SFO
Day #2 Video Summary:
Day 2: Secret Room
Yes, the venue had 6rooms including the secret room that was really cool, even if super hot, was lucky enough to catch Ruben De Ronde and Armin Van Buuren who were playing there:
what a surprise to run into this
Armin likely hadn't played in such a small room in a while :)
General Thoughts
Security had a long list of forbidden things, and silly rules on paper, but in real life they were very reasonable. I had a supervisor allow my outfit full of electronics and my LED backpack that was oversized. Much much better experience than luminosity and its mall rent-a-cops that were more interested in following unreasonable rules to the letter than making sure people were safe (they took sunscreen away) or had a good time
That said, let's read bits from the posted rules they didn't enforce. It's good that they didn't enforce them, but bad that the rules are so overreaching on paper:
"it is forbidden to bring any camera"
organizer has the right to claim these objects (including camera), claimed objects will not be returned but destroyed
recording of event without consent, is not allowed (i.e. everyone recording anything with a phone is violating)
I'm not trying to be a strickler, but I tink it's important to have reasonable rules on paper and the 3 above do not match reality. All that said, in real life, the security was actually very reasonable and cared about people having a good time, so thank you for that.
A bit of local humor:
we forgot to come back at the end to see if there was anything in the bin :)
General thoughts about venue:
The stages all had good sound and pretty good visuals. They were not to the level of insomniac EDC or Dreamstate socal, but that's a very high bar that's hard to match. Overall they did a good job, but sure mainstage could have a bit more of a "wow" factor.
Getting around was a bit confusing at times, including with the one way only paths, but they had reasonably good signage
Water containers/camelbacks were allowed and you could refill them in the bathroom. Thank you.
There was mosty working wifi for attendees in the venue, awesome!
Food options were good enough, and drinks available easily, without silly tokens (contactless credit cards ok)
Lockers unfortunately were outside security, This was ok if you brought things you couldn't get in, but they were a long walk away, and you had to go back through security each time you walked out to your locker, that wasted a lot of time. Also, they didn't tell VIPs not to buy lockers because they were already included. I think it would be easy to move security at the entrance so that lockers are after security (even if that would still put them a long walk away given their distance from the stages)
Conclusions
All in all the event was well run, the venue was good despite the little flaws mentioned above, the event was very well run, and thanks to all the DJs who came to play for us.
Yes, at this point, it's not really "a state of trance" anymore, especially given the amount of techno on mainstage, but it is what it is, there was still plenty of fun music for all. Let's call it "ASOTTP", A State of Trance, Techno, and Progressive.
Would I go back? As per the current format, probably not: for me, festivals should really be at least 2x9h or 2x12h with pre-parties 1 or 2 days before (making it worth a 3 or 4 day trip for non locals, akin to ADE). If ASOT becomes a solid 2x9H or better 2x12H festival where the sets are more spread out across fewer rooms with fewer conflicts, then it would become more interesting to non locals and be worth the trip more. That said, it was 1000, even if 2 years late, and I'm very happy I went and go to see it at least once.
Very glad to have been there, and somehow managed to meet all my friends in the same place at the same time right at the end :)
Should you go? Would I go Back?
If you are in Europe, why not? Otherwise, I don't recomend the trip.
For me? Not really, this was a one time thing.
Security was reasonable, even if having the lockers only outside security, was suboptimal
Overall it was a well run event
The production value was good, but not on par with insomniac festivals in the US. A real festival like Beyond Wonderland, EDC, or Dreamstate Socal, has much better production value (and also 2 times 9h up to 3 times 12h).
My main beef with the regular ASOT events is that they were 1 day only, only about 9H with way too many stages all at once, so you miss so much anyway. FOMO is real, have a longer event with fewer conflicting stages
This year, ASOT was 2 days, kinda, but still started at 22:00 on day #2. Why so late? Why only 9H?
If you live in Europe and Holland isn't that far/expensive, it's still a good party. If you're flying from overseas for what is usually a single day, with all those conflicts, it's less of an obvious choice in my opinion.
Way too much techno this year. It's supposed to be a state of trance, but clearly it has turned more into a generic EDM festival. Is it bad? Maybe not, that's for everyone to decide for themselves.
I'm glad I went to this one, not sure I'll otherwise do the trip for future ones
I had not been to Utrecht so far, but with the twice postponed ASOT 1000 in Utrecht, finally got there, and had a few hours to check out the town over the 2 days there:
easy train ride from Amsterdam
Found ravers on the train :)
Cool architecture
Hotel Grand Karel was nice, although pricey :)
Downtownn had the cathedral and dom tower which sadly is being renovated, so it didn't look good:
There was just enough time to get a climbing tour that day, but only half way up:
partial view with bars I tried to delete in software
Had time for one museum, Catharijneconvent:
And it's fun to go through town and see random things:
The train station gets nice at night:
nice sunset
Of course, the main reason for being there was ASOT 1000
As an ASOT 1000 Pre-Pre Party, Burmuda did another Trance Boat Party, so given that Luminosity decided to put their party the next day, in direct clash with ASOT, it was an easy choice.
The boat is still a fun dancefloor, outside of the times where were too close to amsterdam, and the sound had to be turned down. All in all it was fun, but it didn't really have to be on a boat, panama would have been fine too :) Unfortunately this time around, maybe because they didn't sell enough tickets, they didn't open the top floor, which was slightly disappointing, oh well.
Anyway, it sure still was good fun, we had:
Kev Blundy
Kyau & Albert
Radion6
Daniel Kandi b2b Nitrous Oxide
There is a view from the boat, but it was quite cold outside, and you couldn't really see it from inside the boat:
Thankfully inside it was warm and Kev Blundy started the night for us:
making new kandi friends
Kyau & Albert was next:
great to see Ludkina again
Radion6 was next:
The night ended with Daniel Kandi b2b Nitrous Oxide:
haha, win!
Eventually we got back to amsterdam and the party was over (no sound allowed there at night). We definitely had a good time.
video Summary:
Right after landing in Amsterdam and visiting the Our House Museum, we were lucky enough to receive an invite to the ASOT club (next door to the ASOT studio), and see a few DJs perform for us: Luke Bond, Ruben de Ronde, Reorder, and Marteen de Jong. Thank you so much for the invite, so glad to be back since the 2019 ADE Special.
glad to be back
Let's not get into how when I unpacked my luggage after landing, I found out I had forgotten my LED pants and shirt at home (doh!!!), but thankfully had enough spare parts to build makeshift ones in the uber on the way to Armada. It was literally safety pins and duct tape, but it did the job :)
