in New York, at Madison Square Garden. That’s what A State of Trance is for: giving a podium to new talent, to new ideas, to new music. That’s the only thing that keeps ASOT alive.”
We had the pleasure of sitting down with the two trance lords before their perfor- mance. Ferry and Markus are chuckling over a server bringing over two more shots of espresso after noticing their empty cups on the table in front of us. The catch is Schulz doesn’t drink espresso so Corsten drank the first round. Four shots of espresso later, he says he’ll be talking 500 miles in a bit.
You can feel their extraordinary chemistry. Schulz recalls, “I remember the first time we were in the studio, and we were like two kids, dancing around, jumping around, thinking ‘oh my god, this sounds incredible’.” Today they are giddy like kids and over-the-moon about playing a set together at MSG; serving as their official world premiere. “The thing is we’ve done, separately, shows that have been bigger,” Schulz says, “shows that have been 50,000, 100,000 people, but just the history and what Madison Square Garden represents, not just to New York City, but to the United States, makes it one of the most special gigs ever, in my career especially.”
On the 600th milestone edition of Armin’s ASOT series, Markus had this to say: “I’ve known Armin since ’99 and I was one of the first artists signed to Armada when they first launched. Just to see everything grow and be part of it, I’m very proud. I’m very
proud of Armin, I’m very proud of Armada, I’m just very proud of the whole scene, because it’s like we’ve all kind of grown up together into this. It’s very exciting just to be part of something - a movement that’s special like this.” Ferry chimed in: “And it’s become a culture rather than a scene.”
Their moniker derives from Corsten’s tune and inner Punk and the Unicorn Slayer’s hit, The New World. Corsten says, “It’s easy to get stuck in your own ways when you are always working alone. When you finally sit down with someone who has the same sort of mindset, all of a sudden you feed off each other, and bang, there’s something there, something new and incredible going on.” Maybe there should be a
Match.com for DJs.
Schulz says, “There’s a lot of improvising, which creates a vibe that we don’t even know sometimes what the end result is going to be.”
Asked to define their sound, Schulz responds, “Without a doubt, it’s trance. It’s more espresso and ashtrays. But it has all of the euphoric moments that makes trance so special. Uplifting melodies sometimes just get a little over the top. We just want to see people dancing, having fun, getting lost in these beautiful melodies.” Corsten adds, “with a look of rage in their eyes kind of instead of when you’re about to cry, that’s kind of the difference really. Instead of being fluffy and holy, it’s straight up in your face.”
In your face it was, like a sonic sucker punch. The NWP concept added a bit of versatility to the show as a whole. It was straight up dirty, big room trance, basically a perfect blend of their individual sounds. A sinister female voice sample screeched ““Warriors, warriors, come out to play” from the speakers as if summoning the stadium to a dance battle, followed by dark instrumentals and their new track Romper. Mischievous cartoon versions of both DJs, actually curated by fans, flashed upon the giant LED screen in front of us, and for the next 90-minutes, the crowd was captivated by the pure high energy from the relentless pace like a brutal trance tidal wave that kept coming back for more. Seducing us with strobe lights and immersive visuals, bombs like Jacob van Hage’s “Crank” and their own “Mammoth Forever” mashup could be felt from every angle. There were a few “rainbow and unicorn” moments like when listeners were summoned into a trance by the angelic whispers of Corsten’s “Not Coming Down”.
As the closing act to this epic evening, Armin reminded us all why his fan-base is one of the most devout in all of music. From start to finish, van Buuren played a perfectly executed set; one that was rooted in classic trance with masterful mashups, one that the trance family of NYC would say was a long time coming. Layering tracks in a way that strikes exactly the right emotions, he reminds us of how powerful live music can be. Even though “Clarity” might be a played out tune, when van Buuren dropped it, it sounded like angels were being born. He chased it up with the hard pounding trance beats of his own “Spectrum” remix. He choreographed an amazing amount of content into the set, dropping some classics like “Adagio for Strings” and a remix of “Communication” by Tomas Heredia, an artist who AvB is very excited about. Towards the last quarter of the show, the distinct melody of “In and Out of Love” filled the air and prompted an auditory orgy when he paired this with “Raw Deal” instead of bringing in Dada Life’s “Kick Out the Epic Motherf***er” as he has in previous sets. He had us reaching for the lasers during a show stopping transition into “Brute” vs.
“Concrete Angel.”
To finish off the show, van Buuren brought out Trevor Guthrie for a live rendition of the W&W remix to his new single, “This Is What It Feels Like,” a song about losing a loved one, off his fifth artist album, Intense, out May 3 as fuchsia confetti filled the air. The album is three years in the making and flirts with all different kinds of styles, classical music, house music, everything, but he wants to stress that the album is trance. He is particularly proud of a track he did with Emma Hewitt, “Forever Is Ours”, who he’s wanted to work with for ages. He also confessed that he wanted to work with Chris Martin from Coldplay who told him no. (Politely of course, as van Buuren emphasizes).
Walking out of the Garden, there was an overwhelming feeling of being musically enthralled and emotionally fulfilled. I was definitely in a New York state of trance, huge thanks to Armin, Markus, and Ferry for hosting us at this unforgettable event.
Always true to his fans, Armin wanted to leave us with this thank you note:
“I just want to thank all the readers of DJ Mag for their continued support, especially in Canada. I’ve been touring a lot in Canada over the last few years and I’m really proud to say that the album will drop on Sony Music in Canada. I’m going to do a big show in Vancouver on May 4th. Knowing that so many people like what you do is probably the biggest reward. That’s what I like about DJ Mag, it’s not some award that you get from three gray old guys sitting in an office somewhere. It’s really the fans and that’s what I do it for.
WORDS BY DANIELLE DESMOND PHOTOS AND COVER SHOT BY ANDREW RAUNER
www.djmag.ca 011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88