I never thought for a minute that the legendary Trance Energy would one day touch down in Australia, much less make it as far as Perth. Naturally, when rumours surfaced some time ago that the world’s largest music festival dedicated entirely to trance would indeed be embarking on an Australian tour, I took the spurious claim with a pinch of salt. Perhaps I should have cut straight to the chase and pinched myself rather than the end result of what happens when sodium meets chloride), for the rumour was certainly not fabricated. Not only that, but I (and many others) would not have to book flights to either Sydney or Melbourne, for Trance Energy was locked and loaded for a Perth leg, to be staged on Sunday the 12th April, 2009 at the wonderful Belvoir Ampitheatre.

I must say that the promise of what would be a momentous occasion, as well as what actually eventuated on the day, warrants something more than my usual narrative style review. I would like for you to indulge me as I break down every aspect of how the day unfolded, for Trance Energy Perth 2009 was both an incredible experience as much as it was a comedy of errors.

First things first, I wish to apologise to the event promoters (and there are many of them who cooperated with ID&T), sponsors, DJs, InTheMix and of course the readers of this review. Once again, my friends and I arrived fashionably late because they couldn’t get their you-know-what together. I gave them a bloody good telling off…, that is to say, I should have given them a bloody good telling off. I dare say that this almost ruined the day for me. Australia’s finest trance export TyDi, Marco V, Marcus Schossow, Leon Boiler and Sied van Riel (I had presumed prior to the event that I would not miss the latter, given his alotted set time – more on that later) were all huge drawcards, and in the end I missed all of them (as well as the local support from Freestyle & Piet El). I sincerely hope that it will not be long before some of those names grace our shores once more.

An introduction to Trance Energy: For those who don’t know, Trance Energy is an annual event held in Holland and promoted by the famous ID&T (the team behind Sensation – White and Black – and Thunderdome). As the name suggests, the event is all about Trance…, and Energy. You won’t find techno to chinstroke to, nor will you find cheesy house for the glammy pretentious types here, it’s all about the lights, the lasers and the world’s biggest uplifting trance DJs (I need not name names). For twelve years, the rest of the (trance) world looked over to The Netherlands with eyes of emerald (or should that be laser?!) green every time the lineup hit the internet, but not now. Trance Energy looks set to be an annual event not only here in Australia (and hopefully Perth will remain on the tour schedule), but also in quite a few other destinations as well.

Neither of the big four (or is it five now?) guns in trance music headlined the Australian tour. Instead, some of the scene’s very best names, both past and present, were inked in to provide a good and proper taste of the real deal. Judge Jules, Marco V and BT represented the old guard, while Simon Patterson, Sied van Riel and Marcus Schossow (to name but a few) represented the scene’s young bloods. The sound of progressive was also in the offing, with Anthony Pappa and Inpetto headlining the third Freefall arena, which ultimately made for a virtual musical smorgasbord. Did I say a taste of the real deal? This was the real deal!

The promotion, the organisation, the venue: As was the case with Brisbane and Melbourne, Trance Energy Perth was held outside. In all honesty, I am quite surprised that Perth was not the odd one out, for the city’s lack of venues, be they small, medium, large or very large, is well documented (which is not the case in Melbourne and probably not so in Brisbane as well). Belvoir Ampitheratre was the only choice, both literally and metaphorically, for there are no stadia nor exhibition centres suitable for an event such as Trance Energy, and Claremont Showgrounds would not offer the same physical atmosphere (not to mention the residents’ “TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN!” attitude).

The first thought that crossed my mind, and many others, was “how do we get to and from the Ampitheatre? Given how wonderful the day was overall, I feel a bit bad about mentioning what was not so good before going into what was oh so good, nevertheless when a promoter such as ID&T has such an outstanding reputation for knowing what they are doing, I feel it necessary to banish the demons early. Alarm bells should really have rung at an ear-splittingly loud volume when the transport information found on Trance Energy Perth’s webpage was not updated (“Information coming soon”), but as it turned out, no shuttle buses were provided to and from neither the city nor the nearest railway station (a party bus was provided for those heading back to the afterparty but would not allow carriage for those needing a lift to the city, not even for money) by the event organisers. It could be argued that no event promoter has ever provided transport to and from Belvoir Ampitheatre, however why not be the first and lead by example? I understand that a logistical nightmare might ensue for the organisers, and who would want to be burdened with that, however a logistical nightmare is exactly what could have greeted me at the end of the night (I owe someone a Trance Energy CD for being woken up at 11pm before a 5am start!).

It was not just the transport information that was not updated. Many Trance Energy goers jokingly said that human cloning is indeed upon us after the official (?) set times were released! The set times stated, clear as day, that Sean Tyas and Simon Patterson’s back-to-back set would occur at 7pm on the Trance Energy stage. Simon Patterson was inked in for his solo set at the Judgement Arena during exactly the same hour! Amazingly, the set times were not officially updated at any time prior to the show. It was up to us to locate the moderately sized white boards listing who was playing at which arena. Twas all well and good finding the sign at the Judgement stage, but I could not for the life of me locate the set times for the main arena. Subsequently, I was gutted to find out that I had missed Sied van Riel’s set (a huge drawcard for me), when I had been expecting him to perform at 8pm. As if missing Leon Boiler was not bad enough!

On to the more pleasing aspects of the day… I made sure to take along my monocular (for those who do not know, I am legally blind) so as to really take in the visuals and the stage setup. I was simply blown away by the huge lighting rig, the LED screen and the DJ booth. Even from afar, without the aid of my monocular, the visuals looked simply stunning, however I waited and I waited in the hope that I would see some lasers. Unfortunately, thanks to this state’s antiquated laser laws, the promoters could not deliver. Meanwhile, the sound qualty seemed fantastic, when the wind was not carrying it away (or sending it deafeningly towards me). Fortunately the winds died down towards the end of the show.

Festivals these days are not only judged by the sets performed on the day/night but also the general organisation of the grounds as well. Wait times for drinks and the loos were as short as I have ever seen them and service at the bar was done with a smile. I had originally thought that the merchandise stand was conspicuously absent (however present at the other shows), however I found out later that one had been set up. How can I now look my mother straight in the eye and tell her that I could not find a T-shirt when my friend on the day had misinformed me?

The performances: The musical day began with none other than the legendary BT. Those who attended Two Tribes Perth back in 2004 still reminisce about BT’s set that night and it has to be said that his Trance Energy performance was as good, if not better. BT is known for his live PA performances rather than his DJ sets and this performance would be no exception. I have only ever heard Flaming June out twice, and on both occasions the Mudblood remix was played (which I must say is a great remix – I must have been elsewhere when he played it back in 2004), but I was nonetheless thrilled to hear BT belt out the original, performed completely live! Another highlight of BT’s set occurred when he dropped Love Comes Again as his closing track. Perfect!

Sander van Doorn assumed control of the one’s and two’s (or the Ctrl’s and Alt’s) at 5pm. A personal drawcard, Sander did not disappoint as he lashed out a dark, edgy and techy set full of current and recent pearlers. One thing that struck me about his performance was a somewhat different style of DJing that I am not used to hearing from him. In fact, more and more trance DJs seem to be getting creative behind the decks. I really cannot tell if Sander (and other DJs like him) are mixing and re-editing on the fly or if they are making the necessary changes in the studio, but this new creative air is breathing new life into the sound of trance. I am not necessarily saying that trance has anything to prove to those who choose to look down on it, but perhaps it can regain some credibility if more DJs opt to be more innovative on stage. But I digress, Sander van Doorn had “the pit” going absolutely mental with tunes like Roundabout, Marshmellow and of course Sander van Doorn vs. Marco V – Organic.

The second of two performances by Judge Jules (the other taking place earlier in the day at the Judgement Arena – evidently named after the man himself) commenced at 6pm. The cheerful Londoner boomed over the mic “are you feeling trancy? – are you feeling energetic?,” which sent the crowd, and myself, into a state of delirium. I was expecting a set loaded with trance anthems from yesterday and today, instead the Judge banged out some lesser known (by name and by tune) tracks throughout what was overally an entertaining mix. I enjoyed the majority of what he had to offer but there were a few lemons in there as well and let’s just say the Judge budged (the saying “the Judge won’t budge” is almost as common as “let’s ‘ave it!” with British clubbers) with some rather shoddy mixing. With all that being said, judging by his stage presence, it is clear why Judge Jules is so adored back in his homeland.

Sean Tyas and Simon Patterson have been making some serious waves in trance of late and who would have thought that the two of them would join forces to bring us a back to back set choc full of rich, creamy and sickly sweet trance goodness? Their 8-9pm set allowed them to showcase their contrasting style with each DJ mixing one track after the other. I must admit that I found myself enjoying Patterson’s tougher offerings more so than the uplifting tunes that Tyas laid down, but this is of course purely subjective. There were plenty of hands-in-the-air moments and it all came to a head when Patterson dropped his truly epic Us (a track that is more euphoric than groovy, but its power has always had a hold on me ever since I heard it last year). Other highlights included Thump, Smack, Lift…, You get the idea!

The disappointment that I felt having missed Sied van Riel’s set (remembering that I arrived late and that the published set times indicated that he would be playing between 8-9pm) soon evapourated as one half of Aly & Fila (the Fila half) took over from Tyas & Patterson for the final set of the night. Unsurprisingly, Fila opened up his performance with the powerful melody of Lost Language. Much of his set resembled that of his A State of Trance episode 350 performance, with Roger Shah feat. Adrina Thorpe’s Back to You and Armin van Buuren’s If You Should Go being especially epic highlights.

That being said, the remainder of the audience absolutely lapped up everything that Aly & Fila had to offer. The breakdown-laden set created many euphoric hands-in-the-air moments, which is the kind of atmosphere that made Trance Energy so famous in the first place. At this point the wind had well and truly died down, making the music sound even and much clearer. Time goes so fast when you are having fun and before I knew it, it was encore time. The atmosphere felt palpably alive as Fila dropped TyDi’s remix of L.E.D. There Be Light by Rank 1. As you might imagine, the calls, chants and banging for “one more!” were absolutely deafening! Unfortunately, the sound engineer pulled the plug on Fila halfway through his second encore airing of Lost Language. Never mind one more tune, I am sure that every Trance Energy attendee would have wanted to continue partying for one more hour!

Overall: Despite the aforementioned piffles, Trance Energy Perth 2009, it has to be said, was a raging success. The vast majority of the performers on the day said quite openly that Perth was their favourite destination on the tour, thusly proving once again that Perth knows how to rock it better than the bigger cities and the claimed “Home of Trance” (Melbourne). The crowd and atmosphere was absolutely amazing all day with little or no sign of trouble and every DJ delivered what was expected – and then some! One curiousity on the day was the addition of an MC (MC Assassin). Personally, in no way did MC Assassin ruin the atmosphere, in fact at times he did very well in adding to it, however please do forgive me for being a purist. Trance music is quite capable of speaking for itself.

I must also say that I cannot even begin to imagine how much rigmarole must have been involved with staging Trance Energy, especially given the fact that Perth feels the need to heavily regulate any kind of fun other than that found in the great outdoors (actually we do a pretty good job of that as well, but one gets the feeling that laser laws are in place for much more than just our safety). I suspect that ID&T may not have put in quite the sort of hard yards here that they did for the parties held in Melbourne and Sydney in terms of organisation and promotion because of being shifted from pillar to post (from the Claremont Showgrounds to the Belvoir Ampitheatre) and as a result of irrational and unnecessary regulation by the authorities. I hope with all my heart that there will be a Trance Energy Perth next year in spite of the fact that ID&T might not have “quite” been able to replicate the experience here, but at the end of the day thousands of people had the time of their lives and that is all that really matters. A huge congratulations and thankyou must go out to all those involved with the staging of Trance Energy Perth!