ON THE FLOOR FROM LONDON WITH LOVE:
ABOVE & BEYOND FIND A COZY SUMMER HOME IN LAS VEGAS
Picture Above & Beyond in their sharpest penguin outfits, as if James Bond’s predecessors, ready to perform a classified mission. Tony McGuinness makes a phone call to the boys, “Our mission is to infiltrate the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, find access to the XS Nightclub and take over the stage. Our main goal: to hypnotize the crowd with some Group Therapy.” Paavo Siljamaki and Jono Grant hear the sense of urgency in Tony’s voice and take off in their private jet. After a couple glasses of wine, they elegantly skydive into the desserts of Nevada. The due drive out to the nightclub in their sweet ride and are escorted on stage by beautiful women. From the moment the first tune is played, the audience is entranced by their sound; mission accomplished.
This is exactly how Steve Glasher, producer of A&B’s Las Vegas residency video portrayed it to be and that’s how it almost went down. In actuality, the only part that might have rung true was their 007-esque outfits, the wine and their private jet. We all hoped that an exciting grand entrance of Above & Beyond skydiving and landing directly on stage would come to fruition but real fans know one thing: these guys need no intro!
With the launch of several new clubs solely dedicated to electronic dance music at the beginning and end of the strip, Las Vegas is beginning to give places like Ibiza a run for their money. Above & Beyond’s residency kicked off on May 17th at the XS Nightclub inside of the extravagant Wynn hotel. The house was packed with at least 3,000 party-goers and Anjuna followers alike. Suits donned, armed with a pair of decks, the mood was much more unifying than a typical Vegas outing. Instead of having a pretentious vibe, attendees joined together as part of the Group Therapy experience.
They mixed it up with some of their new tunes from Group Therapy along with remixes of songs from OceanLab and Tri-State. Their club bangers like Walter White and Alchemy received some of the biggest responses from the crowd for not just party appropriate excellence, but for the best mental state one can ever hope to receive from any DJ. Of course, being the #8 DJ’s in the world speaks volumes of their talent, but Above and Beyond’s stage presence is what sets them apart from other DJs in the industry. Watching Paavo with his eyes closed, passionate about the music and from time to time, pressing his hands together, lightly bowing to give constant gratitude to his fans. This performance mannerism speaks volumes without actual words. Meanwhile Tony, the hippest dancer of the 3 consistently bobs and pops his
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back to the beat throughout the whole set; nobody communicates with the crowd the way they do. If Jono was present, you could count on him to reach to the sky with one hand in the air and the other on the tables becoming the conductor of their carefully crafted melodies. Don’t count on hearing them screaming over the microphone either, they obviously don’t believe it’s a legitimate way to hype up their legions of fans, instead taking to the speaker stacks and LED screens to communicate with the dance floor.
An encore performance at the Encore Beach Club the next morning was just as outstanding as the night before. Doors opened at 10:30am but the delayed set only allowed fans more time to share their passion and anticipation for Group Therapy with each other. People with Anjunabeats tattoos exchanged high-fives across the pool and the die-hards planted themselves under the Group Therapy ribbons stationed in front of the stage. Paavo and Jono graced us with their presence at 3:30pm and went on to hypnotize the crowd for almost 3 hours. On the big screen, we read: “This is our favorite view of Vegas,” “There’s nothing a bit of sun and music can’t fix,” and “In this town, wrong is right,” as well as numerous references to genius producer, Mat Zo. They showcased Norin & Rad’s remix to the ever popular Easy and his very own remix of Empire of the Sun’s Alive. As Rebound began vibrating through the speakers, Paavo wrote a message to the crowd referencing
Will.i.am’s copyright infringement of the track, “Fuck Will-I-Steal!” A couple of people shouted out from the crowd as they bounced around to Mat Zo and Arty’s collaboration. Other’s smiled at the bold remarks and continued their enjoyment of the music. A day of pure bliss ended on a high note with Paavo and Tony’s dually produced song, On the Beach. They spent another hour thanking their fans and signing random articles the crowd threw at them, adding another memorable chapter to their hot new Vegas residency.
WORDS BY DANIELLE BONUS
www.djmag.ca
AMANDA NOWAK
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