Ok, so I like electronic dance music, more specifically Trance. Unfortunately, the US, it's let's just say... a bit behind in that department. If you ever hear such music on the radio, or even in the street, let me know (for instance, in Australia, I heard great Trance in even a waterslide park of all places, and in Europe you can easily get EDM/Trance on broadcast radio).
Since 2004 (it's not 2016), the good news is that Trance has grown quite a following in the US, and places like the SF Bay Area, and while Trance has been declared dead a few times in the last 10 years, it's still going strong here, and we're lucky to have at least one or two big Trance parties per year, so yeah!
With San Francisco and San Jose nearby, I've had some opportunities to see some great EDM/Trance DJs. Back in the early 2000's, they sadly played club music in the US that was nowhere close to the hits they had composed and were known for, but over the years, as Trance started becoming more popular, those DJs finally started playing their good tunes in the US too, and maybe from 2004 on, it's only been getting better.
Over time, I've seen many of my favorite DJs across the world, whether it was locally, in New York City, Canada, Australia, and of course Ibiza, and at Halloween 2004, I finally attended some great local parties that proved that you could get the good stuff locally too (even if all the artists came from other countries .
Over the years, I also got the chance to meet a few of my favourite DJs, including Armin more than once:
After really enjoying Beyond Wonderland last year and I Love this City the previous year, both at shoreline, I got tickets as soon as they became available this year. Unfortunately, I had a trip to Taiwan sunday which was going to make me miss the 2nd day, but for better or for worse, we postponed our trip after finding out a typhoon was going through the day we were going to land. In turn, this meant I could go both days, and this was great news since there was even more Trance on sunday than saturday.
While the show was fantastic, crowd watching was also fun. The best part were the deluted christians who were there sunday at the entrance telling people to wear more clothes and that jesus would forgive them if they did. I'm glad they had nothing better to do that day, they provided entertainment while we were waiting in line.
very nice makeup
But what's up with all those people wearing those Batman Bane like face masks made out of beads. Is that really supposed to be cool? I'm really not seeing it, and I don't think it's just me :)
So, let's replay the events. Saturday, there was a good line by 15:30 already:
I barely got there in time for Oakey:
err, ok I guess :)
The catterpillar was very well animated:
Doh, shouldn't have done that :)
almost burning man-like from this distance
And the evening ended with Above and Beyond I had seen just weeks before at burning man, but sure didn't mind seeing again, great set again :)
Here are a few sets from that day:
Oakey:
DieselBoy:
Mat Zo:
Krewella:
Above and Beyond:
Sunday, I showed up bright and early at 13:00 for Dyloot, he's a local who plays awesome melodic trance:
google glass, nice..
Dyloot's:
Jordan Suckley:
Marlo:
Myonn and Shane 54:
Orjan Nilsen:
Andrew Rayel:
Aly and Fila:
Next, came Orjan Nilsen. Awesome Trance set:
Then came Andrew Rayel:
Last, but not least, half of Aly and Fila:
While for me, it wasn't as nice than Andrew or Orjan, Marlo, or Dyloot in my opinion, but it was still a good way to end the night :)
This was an awesome two days, I sure hope we get more of those in the coming years. Thanks Insomniac and Livenation.
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