Paul Van Dyk @ Forum De Beirut [17-11-07]

[Shy--Ism]

I will not complain too much about this one since we really needed to party and release the energy locked inside our bodies for a long time already. Thus many thanks go to MixFM and B-Live for making this happen malgré all the bad circumstances and current disturbed situation especially this month. I also won't start whining about how bad the crowd was, it was definitely something expected of my side; everyone knew about this gig and so everybody wanted to go and it's impossible to forbid people with their free choice.
I couldn’t make it for Amadeus’ opening, it was typically overcrowded, thank God that I had an access to park the car at Forum’s parking place. Though I’m pretty sure that Chady proved himself again and made the crowd move for the very first minutes. Speaking of the music style, actually it didn’t impress me at all, only moved my body and lifted my fist for some short moment, to highlight moments of “First State – Falling”, “New York City” and “Airwave” … it was the peak of the night to me. Shifting for a little while to House music is not a big deal people, I'm a House music fan as well but I must agree that it didn’t really fit in at that time. The play-list didn’t really do it to me as I already mentioned, Askew’s set appealed more to me for some reasons. And for major reasons, I wanted to feel the uplifting sense, or sometimes the blend between it and tech. It was luckily that 'Airwave' was dropped and finally compensated the missed feeling for a short while.

Organization and Set-up were among the best till now, lightings and lazers were absolutely gorgeous, loved the disco balls and its light-reflections all over the place. Multi-colored lazers added a lot of groove as well as the creative decoration. Sound system was much better in the VVIP/VIP and front-Regular sections than the huge back section, but it was good overall.

Unfortunately I couldn’t spend too much time with you fellows, it was quite annoying me down there that I couldn’t bear with it, so I had to leave the group to the upper-sections … glad to have seen you all and looking forward to seeing you on a next near occasion.

[samer]

alright am sorry to get against you (again) Kamil but to be fairly honest in here let's not blame Tech Trance for yesterday's disappointment to you.. alright he might've played many tracks that are "tougher" than your liking, i can understand that and believe me i would never argue with you for your taste as i fully respect it.. but let's just not blame tech for it as much of the tracks he played are not considered tech even if they sound hard and tough, want the proof? pls check the tracklist that i managed to pull of his set, you'll see that the dominant style is sure not tech!

on a side note, the organization wasnt flawless but surely still the best in Lebanon compared with events organised by other than the duo Baccardi/Mix FM. The set was beautiful and original with 3 DJ booths and i loved the light reflections on the many disco balls creating a sort of stars-like on the ceiling of the forum! although mostly through the night it would've been better to increase lighting a bit and maybe benefit from the many possibilites of the light effects that could be created. VJ was pulling a very good job and much better than the last time for sure. As for the sound system, it was powerfull enough but could get crisper in term of vocal clarity and distribution.
All in all it was a great thing to be able to party after so long and after all the stress we've been going through in everything else other than the music scene. well done for the organizers and as Galen Behr and Robert Burns say: Till We Meet Again
\0/

[DJ_TRACID]

as for the crowd well it's like that everytime it's nothing new and ofcourse there was going to be pushing like everytime it's nothing new either, we were not in a restaurant or something, my vodka got spilled over me i wasn't mad fuck it i enjoyed my time i didn't wanted to spoil my evening by geting mad for some idiots it was perfect for me i'm not moody after all maybe that helped me and Kamil abt playing tech in clubs and ppl leaving i'm with u abt that 100%

[rob]

OMG, what an awfull tracklist!..Beirut is way too hot for pvd!

[Sweety]

Hahaha ! I told You ! When PvD was in Poland for the 1st time (I think) he played exactly the same way - tech tech tech .... and the worst technical skills I ever heard ! Really I could do better than him ... After the concert I decided that I wont go to his next concert, Im happy that he is #4 on DJ mag top 10 - this is the right place 4 him ! Poland doesnt miss PvD ! Maybe Beirut should too.

[TranceFusion]

^ Nah honey Lebanon loves PvD no matter what, one of the reasons is because he loves this country too. But yea... it was a failure... but i'm sure that Armin will play more melodic tracks! Till then, my 2 best friends mister iPod and mister Hard Disk will satisfy me

[jackbeans]

PVD LIVE AT FORUM DE BEIRUT - SAT. 17/11/2007


Venue-Lights-Sound-Organization
Briefly, one of the best witnessed in Leb. Nothing much to add.
The tri-booth idea is great, decoration very nice, lighting wonderful.
Little queues at the entrance and acceptable ones at the bar.
Hence, more can be done for the restrooms in terms of hygiene.
Also as Samer cleverly stated, sound quality although powerful, was too powerful distorting often higher pitches.
All in all a very good set up

Crowd
A diversed, mixed crowd.
From those who thought that PVD sings to those who where concentrating on his set and simply enjoying with maturity every bit of it.

Amadeus-John Askew
Unfortunately missed both sets since I reached Forum at the end of John's set, at around 1:00 AM so can't really comment on any of these sets.

Paul Van Dyk
Being 28 and witnessing electronic music since the early 90's, I think I can humbly comment on a few things.
Paul Van Dyk is truly an artist. Constantly trying to push music to its limit. Combining all kind of genres, pushing boundaries where styles mix together, Paul is truly the man.
Nevertheless all said above are true but in specific context: Paul Van Dyk's style of music context only.
I do not agree with those who claim that Paul played some Tech-Trance, Minimalist-Trance or any genre name one can give. Paul simply played Paul's style, his usual pumping fast beat, Paul's beat that you can simply recognize from the first few seconds. He simply played just like he played in 2006, 2005 or even 2004.

The content of his set (As tracklist mentions) is quite diverse. Hence, it is Paul's editing, remixing... Paul's style...
But the main issue here is that with what Trance has become today, its evolvement through out the years, Paul's music has become outdated.
Although fast and diverse, it sometimes becomes frustrating, or even worse, boring. His style has been the same in terms of sound. His style has been exhausted. Being one of the precursor in his genre, probably Trance's daddy along big shots like Ferry and Paul for instance, Trance has become a better sound than his, let's put it fairly, a newer more exciting sound rather.

But here comes the part where Paul yesterday looked impressive, more, looked simply invincible: Technics & Skills.
From live editing, live performance, live remixing, live whatever you can imagine, Paul made the crowd bow down. Mixing & all kind of imaginable technics where used to the max with perfection. No abrupt transitions, skipping or error was noticeable. He simply was perfect.

Putting apart the content of his music, it was a joy simpling watching him move, concentrate and deliver what he loves best. One can only be standing there amazed, bedazzled, stupefied simply saying: "How the hell did he do this?"
His 15 years (more or less) experience in this field was clearly shown saturday night. He simply was The Man.
Truly an artist, truly one of the finest Technicians, Paul Van Dyk tried it all and all in a magnificent matter.

All in all, despite his style which is becoming slowly outdated, one had to attend that night simply to see what a man can do, create and deliver with a couple of toys & tools, simply to see how fluid a performance can be, simply to see how a man with a heart of steel dared editing, remixing, CREATING live in front of a couple of thousand lovers with absolute confidence and self-assurance. Of course all in all sent in a perfect matter.

The Talented Paul believes in what he does and on saturday night, it could be clearly seen..

+ Very Good Set-Up
+ Good Oranization & Management
+ Excellent Skills/Techniques/Expertise

- Toilets Hygiene to be questioned
- Exhausted, outdated style of music in general

7.5/10
GOOD

[TranceFusion]

Ok, Roland posted a topic 2 days before the event about Paul talking for CNN. He said in the video:"Imagine the intense feeling of classical music combined to modern energetic driving elements - this is what EDM is all about".
I didn't hear any classical music elements that night (modernized let's say, with the electronic hardware like keyboards and stuff) (only during Airwave, For An Angel and a couple of other tracks) and i heard only powerful bass, not energetic.
But i do agree that Paul is a great artist/musician. He showed it during For An Angel and that was far from enough for me. That was my only happy moment of the night.

[crow]

[rob]

[mzy]

[DJ_TRACID]

[samlbronkowitz]

[Raneem]

[TranceFusion]