Punters where blown away by last month’s news that world #1 DJ Armin van Buuren would be making a surprise visit to our shores in January. The summer season was already stuffed to overflowing with highly-anticipated tours and massive festivals, but the announcement of Armin took everybody by surprise. Since then there’s been plenty of speculation over whether he’d be making any additional appearances around the country. We knew he’d be playing Summafieldayze on the Gold Coast and Summadayze in Perth, but would Armin make a sneaky side-stop in Sydney or Melbourne on New Years Eve, perhaps? ITM can finally bring you the official word from Future Entertainment themselves.

Armin will be flying in to Australia in early January fresh from his NYE ‘Armin Only’ performance in Los Angeles. According to Future’s head honcho Mark James the visit is to play an encore for fans in Queensland and Western Australia who may have felt overlooked earlier this year. “Armin felt he needed to give something back to his fans in WA and QLD as they missed out on the amazing ‘Armin Only’ shows that took place in Melbourne and Sydney in June.” Armin’s impending tour will see him appearing alongside fellow Dutch trance heavyweight Ferry Corsten, and many have speculated on whether they might in fact hit the decks together for a once in a lifetime back to back set? “It’s totally up to them we are in the hands of the gods with this one…” Mark wrote on the ITM forums recently. “You never know.”

While fans from Sydney and Melbourne will no doubt be a tad upset that they’ll be denied the opportunity to catch their hero in the flesh over the New Year period, they won’t have to wait too long for another chance. Future have hinted that he will indeed be back “with a big new show in 2009” for Sydney and Melbourne crowds.

Make sure to check out our Summadayze and Summafieldayze festival pages for all the latest news, interviews, DJ mixes and videos in the lead-up to all the party madness this summer. And don’t forget tickets for both festivals are onsale on ITM now.