Tiesto 'In Search of Sunrise' @ Family, Brisbane (26/04/08)
It was no small irony that the Brisbane Friday afternoon sky evoked so strongly the memory of In Search of Sunrise 4: its blue, orange and pink colours quivering in my pair of excited hands, raring to get home and appreciate the progressive beauty of it. This it seems is the experience of many a dance music aficionado. Tiesto is and will be for sometime yet a leviathan of electronic music, whether or not you love or hate trance. Those Brisbanites proud to hold a ticket and make their way to Family on Friday got a taste of ‘Tiesto 101’, as there was nary a classic tune (from either him or someone else) within his trance canon that didn’t get an airing, and with his mixing up to the higher standard it became even more enjoyable still.
But the dancefloor had to be first entertained by someone else, and the task fell initially to Syke who proved up to his usual high standard of mixing and crowd appreciation. Not out of place, Mark Knight’s sublime remix of the classic Man With the Red Face made an early push to get punters active, the bump and funk nature of it charming to the last drum. Such tech and progressive house was in no short supply, with groove ruling supreme over Syke’s set throughout with the obligatory deadmau5, along with some particularly fresh sounding progressive house. Deep House stylings in the main room of Family on a Friday? Apparently it’s possible; take note people.
Being the resident Armada artist, tyDi was of course more inclined to channeling Armin van Buuren and did so with gusto, pulling out classic after classic with no sign of diverting from the Universal Religion 2004 or A State of Trance 2005 deja vu he seemed bent on invoking. Tracks like Audioholics External Key, Max Graham I Know You’re Gone, Signalrunners’ remix of Jump The Next Train and *Andy Moor’*s remix of Transatlantic elicited more than few misty eyed recollections of clubbing experiences from the more seasoned members of the crowd, while setting the mood for the rest. Good DJing is a matter of choice within circumstance, and the circumstance demanded big vocals and bigger emotion; like clockwork, tyDi delivered to a crowd screaming in unison for Tiesto who was contrary to the scheduled set times, starting an hour later than stated. Fortunately capable hands were at the decks to keep what could have been a merely frustrated and distracted crowd entertained.
That very chanting, which spread like wildfire from person to person, erupted into a deafening cacophony of screams and a sea of skyward hands as the statuesque Tiesto finally graced the booth. This was going to be a typical Tiesto-style opening in epic trance fashion, with a wash of massive pads and strings that eventually gave way to a Greece 2000 esque melody lingering in the background. Tiesto built gradually from progressive trance that was emotive and vocal driven, without being overly saccharine sweet. The meaty material came quick and fast thereafter, and if there’d been a request from every person in the several thousand-strong crowd then would hardly be anyone disappointed. After enrapturing the crowd with his own Dance 4 Life, he proceeded to raid his own formidable catalog of tunes that came in what were seemingly matching pairs, with the sounds of one to the next coming into perfect synergy. The charged vocals of BT on Break My Fall had the whole crowd in singalong mode as did the Richard Durand remix of Lethal Industry (come on now, we all recognise that melody) and of course the inevitable, ubiquitous In Search of Sunrise remix of Silence, without which there simply would not have been a Tiesto show.
Suburban Train was unsurprisingly a quick fader throw after, but curiously it was Tiesto’s remix of He’s a Pirate (from Pirates of the Caribbean) that got the more rapturous response of the two though with the T4L remix of Nyana driving the sea of munt so much further still. Somewhere in between, perhaps earlier, perhaps later was the new and stunning First State remix of Tiesto’s own Ten Seconds Before Sunrise. But none of the above could ever compare to the sublime beauty of Cygnus X’s Orange Theme or the final show stopper of Tiesto’s take on the classical piece Adagio for Strings, which despite being played thousands of times over in a thousand different places, never seems to age or tire. In a throw back to his ‘In Concert’ performances and true rock star DJ style, Tiesto finished off by signing his headphones and throwing them to a lucky recipient in the crowd (who most likely had a fight trying to hang onto them).
Let’s be frank. There will come a time when trance changes dramatically enough that our time-honoured ideas of what it should sound like will disappear for something new. Until then, DJs like Tiesto will remain at the top of the game and when a performance from the man is primarily comprised of his own tunes that all drive crowds to hysterics, more than a small amount of respect is due. Especially when he does it all with little more than a poker face and occasional wry smile. In short, the irregular visit was one worth attending.
k-magic says...
"with his mixing up to the higher standard", maybe you were just so excited to see tiesto or maybe you were chopped but tiesto's mixing was terrible family's residents mix better, I would have expected more for such a 'good' DJ
palaeo-tech says...
The intention of that comment was to illuminate the fact that he was mixing better than he is often disposed to. I and mostly anyone who has ever listened to Tiesto is aware he's not a technically proficient DJ in any sense of the word. However, the only severe error I heard in his set wasn't a trainwreck but a CDJ skipping and bottoming out which he got on top of very quickly. Thats much better than the myriad trainwrecks he allegedly masterminded on the Thursday. I totally agree with you that the residents mix better, tyDi and Syke did a great job in warm up with Syke's style being more to my taste than the former. As for my state of mind? I was sober as the pope and pretty indifferent as I've seen Tiesto twice previous to this and knew exactly what to expect, which is to take what he does with a grain of salt. Not at all the worlds best DJ, but definitely one of the best Trance producers around and always a crowdpleaser. Better to put the technical inadequacies aside and just enjoy the tunes.
seen006 says...
Palaeo-tech.. your spot on.. I am a massive fan of tiesto's production and have been since the begining of his carrer... alot of respect is due to this 38 year old man who has done amazing things for the trance genre.. i have massive respect for this man and as a resident Dj myself and after witnessing his performances more than 4 times now, yes he is not the greatest DJ as such he is not a Sasha or a John Digweed, but my gosh he can control a crowd better than most... Cheers Guys... peace
MATTY-TRANCE-DJ says...
I agree with the all of the below said!! ... I too picked up on his CDJ skipping and bottoming out, which still shouldnt be happening with a DJ of this profeiciency!! .. Having seen both Armin