ITM pres. Armin van Buuren @ Commerce Building, Brisbane (14/06/08)

At last! Armin van Buuren in Brisbane, and about bloody time too. I was so super ‘cited about this event I could barely sleep the night before. As much as I love my trance and worship Armin, I had opted against going to the Gold Cost gig when he was here last for two reasons: I couldn’t be bothered driving back from the Goldie after a big night out, and the thought of being packed into the tiny venue that is The Bedroom (and about the same size as my bedroom) didn’t hold much appeal. To be honest, I’d rather crank up the stereo at home and stomp around the lounge room.

Having not been out for a while, I half expected to be surrounded by clueless eighteen-year olds and not see anyone at all I knew. How wrong I was! The magical mystery tour began before I even got into the venue. I nabbed a great park right outside and then I saw the line that went around the corner. Holy crap! “Is this the line-up for tickets?” I asked a random. “No man, this is the line to get in!” I bumped into long lost pal Silva in the line and spent the next hour that it took to get in catching up on the last four years, and I’m so glad I opted for the warmest coat I own for what was probably the coldest night in history.

I did my “I heart inthemix!” thing to the cameras upon entry and hugged Lady Lex (AKA ‘Our illustrious leader’) before bouncing off to discover the various sound spaces. TyDi was cranking some beautiful uplifting cheesy trance (always love my trance with a sprinkle of mozzarella) upstairs in the main room. Downstairs the ‘Libertine’ room was the area of choice for the harder-faster crew with Matt Kitshon on the decks, while next door in the so-out-of-the-way ‘Huge in Japan’ room OO-Ee was struggling to pull a crowd with some electro sounds that were very meh. So I ventured back upstairs and hung there for the rest of the night. And I must say that I loved TyDi’s set! Bring on the 140BPMs. It’s been too long! He played some really classic oldies like Delirium’s Silence and got he crowd cheering with Robert Miles Children, just perfect for an old fart like me. And yes, there was definitely an older crowd in amongst the Corey wannabes and pop princesses with skimpy dresses and stilettos.

Maybe it came down to the organisers doing a damn fine job of promoting the event, but from what I could gather, most of the massive crowd were there for just one reason: the fucking awesome music! And despite a few grumbles from some about the venue, the Commerce Building was plenty big enough although as the night went on, the crowd in the front made it harder to work my way around to the back and sides. But back there I found my required three-metre circumference dancing space and I must say I had one of the best nights ever! Armin came on right on cue at midnight and proceeded to play a set that was less euphoric trance than TyDi’s had been, with a tougher pace and quite a few BPMs faster.

Preferring to stay up towards the back meant I didn’t get to see too much of AVB up close, all I could see was the glowing flashing lights of his trademark DJ that he was playing within (along with his brother who jumped on the live guitar every now and then). But from what I did see he looked like he was loving every minute of it, and it’s this very love for the music he plays that makes it so infectiously good. The set rose and dimmed over the four hours he was on, with the breaks coming at exactly the right time as if Armin had tapped directly into the energy levels in the room. The mixing was almost perfectly executed over the duration of the set, bar a mishap in the second track when the music just stopped cold. But he recovered quickly and the mistake was forgiven.

Maybe it was just me, and the fact that I had bumped into so many of my old crew who I hadn’t seen out in ages, but all I felt on the night was sheer joy. The seething, swarming mass of hands in the air and a sea of smiling faces and happy hugs created a room full of positive vibes (along with a shit load of condensation that literally dripped down the walls). A little more laser action would have been nice, but the massive disco ball managed to reflect the lasers they had and spread them around somewhat.

Track wise, it actually kinda felt more like a rock concert than a trance gig at times, complete with the screaming guitars and high energy galloping beats, along with the surprise addition of U2’s Beautiful Day. Of course there were plenty of Armin’s own tracks, complete with the lyrics projected onto the back screen to ensure that they would be forever entrenched in our memories. Crowd pleaser If You Should Go had some nice moments while everyone sang along, and I actually found myself humming Unforgivable while I was writing up this review, even though I kinda tire of his tendency to use overly similar-sounding female vocals. The lyrics all tend to be about love gone wrong kinda stuff, but that one damn track stuck in my head for some reason! What You Need went down a real treat, but I was hoping for more classic trance breakdowns and less vocals in the set.

But all in all, it was a beautiful night and I got to dance to Armin van Buuren here in Brisbane and for that I’m over the moon. The fact that it was a great night of catching up with so many familiar faces and meeting so many new ones was just the icing on the cake. If there was any bad vibes there on Saturday night, I didn’t feel ‘em, but then I guess you get what you give…