As the harsh Melbourne winter approaches us faster than we’d like, we were treated to one amazing evening of summery, Balearic trance to warm us up. On the 22nd of May, 2009 the crew behind White Sands presented the talented German DJ/producer, Roger Shah. Shah has helped create some of the most recognizable music over the last few years, making a firm imprint upon the genre with his gorgeous style of trance.

Entering Room 680 was a queue-less breeze, however it was clear that everyone had arrived as soon as things kicked off; Both the side room and main room were overflowing with people enjoying the tunes in moist humidity. We secured a good spot on the mezzanine level, so we could catch a glimpse of the entire venue that was decorated with statues and colourful lighting.

Our narrator for the night introduced the man we had been waiting for, as Shah greeted us with a big wave and beaming grin. A joyous exclamation erupted as his intro floated through the speakers, and we were taken away by the pretty chords played on his mobile keyboard. All of a sudden, bright streams of digital colour splashed into the room thanks to a stellar lasershow by Lumina AV Productions. Shah’s distinctive sound embraces either a guitar or piano playing the melody, and for the first 90 minutes of his set, he spoilt us with some of his best. The style of his music is reminiscent of what you may hear in Ibiza, with deep, percussive elements blended with a strumming acoustic guitar/piano, quite often featuring a vocalist. His album, Songbook, highlights his penchant for these ingredients as you can hear an acoustic version or club mix version of each track on separate discs. Initially we heard his remix of Black Pearl’s Bounty Island, and following shortly after was his amazing rendition of PUSH’s Universal Nation played live. He held his keyboard like a violinist, hugging it closely as he played each note to the crowd that lapped up every second.

You could see that Shah adored the punters in the front, quite often interacting with them and even getting crowd members to play his keyboard for him. We were too busy to notice the often uncomfortable sound level during Shah’s most recognised single with Armin van Buuren Going Wrong. He allowed the music to silence as he played the Going Wrong melody alone on his keyboard, building up to the bustling club mix that had the room elated.

The crowd became weary as 4AM drew nearer when all of a sudden, Shah pushed things up another notch with an unforgettable finale. His epic conclusion started off with his own track Back To You and then Who Will Find Me; after this, our narrator took the mic and asked us to thank our guest only to be drowned out by a chanting crowd that screamed “ENCORE, ENCORE, ENCORE”. He then responded with his classic White Sand followed by the amazing Paul Oakenfold track Southern Sun, both of course played live on keyboard. The entire crowd demanded another two encores of Shah’s electricity and he was happy to oblige each time.

Roger Shah shared four and a half hours of his style of trance, appreciated by a friendly crowd within a great venue. His interaction and love for the music was truly enjoyable to experience, and beautifully elevated by the ‘live’ music factor. White Sands continues to grow and boost the scene in Melbourne, with some exciting prospects to look forward to. Congratulations on a nice event, and thank you very much for bringing such a talented performer to our city.