TOP 100 DJS PARTY, LAVO, NEW YORK Armin van Buuren
ON THE FLOOR
Big Cheese in the Big Apple World No. 1 DJ Armin Van Buuren touches down in New York as part of his Top 100 DJs celebration
W
hen the announcement came at the DJ Mag Awards show that Armin Van Buuren had not only won the No. 1 title for the fifth time, but was also the first
DJ to reclaim the position, many cities wanted in on the party. New York City was no exception and the Dutch DJ revealed he was to play the city’s LAVO club just days later. So DJ Mag USA headed off to the frontline of one of the hottest tickets in town.
We arrive at midtown Manhattan’s upmarket Park and Madison Avenues to seemingly quiet streets, most stores and offices long since shut for the evening. A turn onto 58th street between the avenues is like night and day though as we join a hub of commotion surrounding the entrance to both the restaurant and nightclub inside LAVO, and its sister restaurant TAO across the street. It’s fairly clear as we enter that many more people are desperately trying to get in than will manage to get through the doors.
Inside the subterranean club every inch is packed with upscale, beautiful club goers. LAVO’s staff tells us that this is the first time they’ve had to use security to help them move around the club as it is one of the fullest nights that they’ve ever experienced. The bars and dancefloor are equally packed under the impressive disco ball chandelier. The club’s resident DJ, Steve Powers, is busy on warm-up duties, dropping everything from electro and progressive house to remixes of the likes of Madonna and Ralphi Rosario. There is an incredible energy around the room with everyone on tenterhooks for Armin to go on, and even the barstaff are running around in bespoke tank tops with the night’s lineup on them.
Finally, a few giant bottles of Moet with sparklers on top run through the crowd and Armin Van Buuren takes the reigns. For a moment all we can see are cameraphones
as he kicks things off to a chorus of cheers and whistles. Then the music comes; a long churning trance intro that builds speed as everyone shouts and eggs on the tempo. When the beat finally drops, it’s mayhem as the club’s amazing soundsystem blows the crowd sideways with pummeling bass. The giant LCD screens at the back of the DJ booth show moving images of a virtual city skyline with lyrics interjecting in time to the music.
The next two hours sees hits from the likes of BT, Zedd and Beat Service dropped with unrelenting energy. We also get a few of the producer’s own tunes, like ‘We Are Here To Make Some Noise’, which elicits the biggest whoops from the crowd. Ferry Corsten’s ‘Brute’, a co- production with the man of the hour, also seems to go off exceptionally well. Armin has a smile on his face the entire time and makes contact with the crowd throughout his set, waving and clapping his arms during breaks and drops which never fail to whip everyone into an even bigger frenzy. About halfway through his set we even see a bunch of giant glowsticks with the LAVO logo on them, which quickly make their way into almost everyone’s hands. This, alongside a fair few more flaming Moet bottles, only adds to the visual and sonic spectacle before us.
Three am comes and goes and Armin asks the crowd how they’re doing to an uproarious response before thanking New York, his three managers and his fans profusely. There’s even a hint dropped about coming back to the Big Apple on one of the last and biggest nights of the year and we see many dropped jaws in reaction. “Do you want one more?” he yells before launching into Porter Robinson’s ‘Language’. It’s not the end though; the visibly moved DJ has decided to play for an extra thirty minutes! Then Steve Powers takes the reigns again as the club continues on into the wee hours, everyone satisfied and amped from a fantastic evening. ZARA WLADAWSKY
www.djmag.com
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Pics: LEXI LAMBROS
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