Tiesto in Lebanon

[DIONYSOS]

To review a breathtaking night such as the one I just hecticly came home from is a certainly a challenge to a mind that was overwhelmed with far too beautiful a music for the human senses to process without being overloaded or abused, a music so euphoric that its spiritual dimensions cannot but overwhelm one's mind, causing such a challenge as writing a review that truly gives right to the inherent exaltation of the whole experience, a challenge I am compelled to undertake with a proclaimed defiance of its unsurmountability.

Some of us have been waiting for him to bestow his blessings upon us ever since the early days of Trance and the rise of the Trance DJ. Others have been anticipating his visit for the past couple of years, ever since Trance started surfacing in the local scene. Some desired his presence so passionately that every few months a new rumour would breeze between clubbers. But it finally became a reality on a certain date in the time spectrum of this state of existence of ours; the first of October of the year 2005 - a date over 15000 shall fail to forget for many years to come, and a date to be written down in music history, even more in cultural history, as a turning-point date in the region's clubbing identity.

Most members of this humble yet proud forum arrived at the venue at around 9PM with soaring high expectations as to what concerns the setup, the music, and the crowd. We finished off distributing our bandanas (for which we dearly thank Bacardi for the generous contribution) and headed straight inside Forum De Beirut to quench our thriving curiosity towards just what has been going on inside the sealed doors in preperation for this large-scaled event. By the time we got in, it took us a few minutes of bewilderment as we were contemplating the artistic refinement of the setup and interior design, carefully executed to the smallest detail, in terms of the sound system, the lighting, the visual projections, the departmentalization, the DJ booth, and so on. Particularly striking were the countless "laser machines" or whatever their technical slang is, the intelligently distributed speakers, and the elevated VIP & VVIP sectors of the venue. In terms of organization as a holistic term, Bacardi & MixFM have once again outdone themselves and did nothing short of impressing the eyes and ears of the dedicated clubbers.

maDJam started pumping up the night, clearly hand-selecting each track on its own, creatively mixing them whilst displaying an unmatched level of technicality (speaking from my perspective as a DJ) and an unparalleled crowd interaction (speaking from my perspective as a clubber). The way this guy mixes makes it look as if it's as easy as taking candy from a baby, while in fact he'd be applying some very advanced techniques at times. And the way he interacts with the crowd will get you jumping your kneecaps off even if he was playing 120BPM Disco! Few are the DJs that know their music like maDJam does, and that sincerely feel what they are playing and project this feeling onto the crowd, which in my opinion (this time both as a DJ and a clubber) is more essential than the technical aspect of the DJ craft. Oh and maDJam, since you'll surely be reading this, I just wish you could describe to us just how it felt when you dropped in Washing Machine!

Amadeus was as horrible as ever, playing the oldest and cheesiest material known to man, not even trying to beatmatch, and sticking his face to the ground all the time... What? That was either the extreme tiredness speaking or that drink (that zooz fixed up for me and that tasted really funny) speaking, because Amadeus was raving behind the decks like I've never seen him before, hammering one progresssive tune after the other, slaughtering the crowd with each beat, constantly reshaping the direction his set was taking, keeping things interesting and spicy all along, ranging from the deepest abysses of House to the brightest peaks of Trance, and of course giving us his infamous clap every now and then. The thing is, and I think I shared this with you already, I've reviewed this guy so much that I'm running out of vocabulary to describe his performance, a performance I allow myself to sum up in just one word - outstanding. You sure deserve to be ranked among the big jocks, and we hope to keep striving with you to make it happen! But man, did you have to pop our tearbuds with Zocalo?

Tiesto... Tiesto? Tiesto! Tiesto.

I will begin speaking from the end of the story just this one time: the biggest success Tiesto achieved today was proving to the Lebanese crowd that he is farther from the term "commercial" than Sabah is from the term "young", and that Tiesto is far more than "Traffic". The man truly managed to keep the dancefloor lit throught the entire set, with a few ups and downs of course, something very natural in any conceivable DJ set, but I can safely say that out of the 15000 clubbers that were shaking the grounds of Beirut on this special night, at least 10000 were constantly bouncing from the first moments of the set up until the very end. Tiesto was relentless, and so were we. He showed us just how much quality music he could delvier, and we showed him just how much relentless energy we can give back. A different interaction with each different track he pounded caused the world's number one DJ (I refrain from adding the term "official" as such a notion only exists in marketing purposes) as voted on DJmag to draw a constant smile and dance along with us; at moments I felt he was about to jump off the stage to come rave with us, but then again he didn't want Johnny to take over the wheels and send us home (tee-hee). Not only was the night an intoxicating journey into the tempting profoundess of Trance, Tiesto also gave us track-identifiers a very hard time decyphering what releases he was slamming; he played so many unreleased promos that made SamEr peel off his hair in frustration! Not that we're complaining, it's always a treat to hear future favorites from the scene's leading jocks. Alas I had to leave the gig a few minutes before Tiesto was scheduled to call it a night (4AM), but with the quality of tracks that the man was unleashing I can only imagine what I missed out on... I was there for Suburban Train, too bad I couldn't be there for Adagio.

So much to say, so little time left to sleep. It's 6AM right now and Athena is still repeating itself in my mind like a broken record. The visuals that operated in supreme harmony with the sonaries are still flashing in the corner of my eyes. The beautiful crowd that just never finds time to rest is still vibrating the bottom of my feet. The smile that never departed Tiesto's face is still imprinted in my imagination. The uplifting melodies that kept reverberating all along the long hours of the night are still reverberating all along the short echoes of my eardrums. And what can never be disposed off in any review I write: the absolute joy of partying with the beautiful people of this forum is still reviving memory after memory in the back of my head. So much to say, so little time left to sleep...

Thank you Bacardi.
Thank you MixFM.
Thank you TranceHits.
Thank you maDJam & AMADEUS.
But above all: thank you Tiesto for a night we shall never forget.

Let it be known to history that on this date Lebanon was definitively added on the global clubbing map, and you were the lucky witnesses!

Did I overcome the challenge?

[rudy]

a breathtaking, mindnumbing, outstanding night...

i am sorry to tell u dio, but u missed out on the best part of the night.
tiesto played an extra hour, a WHOLE extra hour; u could feel the man was enjoying himself, he just didn't want to stop!!
and that hour was the most emotional...

i was standing on a chair at the highest level of the VIP section to the right, so i had a supreme view (i hope someone took pics from the VIP section so the regulars can try to understand what a great view it was); and when tiesto held up the lebanese flag while he was playing adagio, the sight i saw of ~15,000 clubbers with their hands in the air screaming at the top of their lungs (the loudest cheer during the whole night), i felt a surge of emotion i rarely felt before, i almost felt like i was going to cry...

and then he played silence at around 4:40, and at that point i was in heaven...

i am only sorry for 1 thing. when i submitted my vote to dj mag 2 days ago, i didn't even include tiesto's name. if i had a choice to do it again, he would be right up there at #1. the man deserves it, he just gave me the best clubbing experience of my life...

[tranquility]

I just really want to thank you guys for ur insight and beautifully written reviews..for the description on the night and review for those of us that couldn't be there to be apart of the magic!!

Thank you and so happy for all of you and the Middle East!!! Genuinely!!

Cheers

Always postive!!!

[A.H. DeeJay]

HELLLOOOOO guys it was a beautiful night and a gr888888888888 one.
10nx MIX FM . Bacardi Breezer and all the organisers.... yesterday i felt that am in heaven and wished that heaven will be like that:);) and i was verrrrrrryyyyyyyy hhaaappppyyyy when TIESTO took up the LEBANESE FLAG ... i've meeted some of u for the first time yesterday it was a beautiful meeting... c u all in other gigs

[rem07]

It Was Just staggering..This Man knows how to keep our knees jumping....It was the most intense clubbing experience in the history of the region...I felt the man loved playing for the crowd...That Last hour was the most sensational and mind blowing....I Have no voice now because when tiesto Held The Lebanese Flag all the stamina left in me just went through my throat...this moment seeing 16,000 lebanese..being proud of their flag shows that we the youth would never abandon our country .... Thank you mix Fm thank You bacardi

...see You Nov 19 .. let us hope Armin Van buuren and Digweed and judge jules show us some the same good time!!! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[habib]

[~Tr@N(E_L@TiON~]

[Nino]

[Roland]

[trancematic]

[TRANCExual]

[sleiman]

[bxtreme]

[samer]

definitely a night to remember!!
no wonder i kept telling many that indeed, if Tiesto was alright he can give the best performance a DJ can give.. his interaction, his tracklist, his dance moves.. everything was just spectacular!!

..and it was so obvious he was as thrilled as we were (if not even more).. and the best proof is that he kept on pumping one track after another, few were ISOS4 tracks (concerning the rest of his gigs..) and his own personal productions as he hammerred us with one promo after another taking us on a wonderful journey and making this gig an international high standard event!! (a better review concerning the tracklisting will be available shortly)
whether you like Tiesto or not.. after his performance yesterday, everyone should understand why many ppl all around the world keep on voting for this guy as the #1 DJ.. his vibe is just unmatchable!!

getting back to AMADEUS, aside from the unbelievable tracklist he dropped last night (and you were promised for a treat ) his interaction, his energy was something that we've never witnessed before.. oooufff! you were flying yesterday AMADEUS! and you surely took us with u!! thanks for the flight

but i would like to request one thing from the organizers pls while reading my post (Bacardi and MixFM):

Pls do something about the volume of the warm up sound!!
the warmup set should be lower in BPM and energy - which is easy to be done with DJs in the calibre of maDJam and AMADEUS!! - and it should NEVER be lower in volume!! their sets deserve also to be enjoyed to the max!! and yesterday the volume was so low untill Tiesto came on the decks.. and it's something that has been going for a long time!!

also, pls pls pls.. talk to the sound ppl and let them decrease the difference between the volume of the bass in relative to the volume of other instruments.. many tracks had very low vocals and other instruments were barely hearable when the bass kicked in...

TRANCE IS NOT ONLY BASS AND BEATS, IT'S A FULL PACKAGE OF MELODIES, BEATS AND A LARGE MIX OF SEVERAL INSTRUMENTS THAT FORMS ONE BIG JOURNEY..

Finally, thanks for the organizers (Bacardi and MixFM) for yet another successful, high standard event in Lebanon.. and surely you just proved that you are indeed improving more and more!!

Tiesto,.. hope we shall meet again!!

Armin,.. we're waiting!! :D:D

[rudysaadi]

TIESTOOOO!!!!What did TIESTO played?? It was more than Trance!!Unbelievable!!! I FELT i was in one of the huge TIESTO's concerts..The way the people were jumping all together..Tiesto wasnt believing his eyes!

I was so happy listening to Middle East No 1 DJ, DJ AMADEUS warming up! I never saw him so much jumping.The tracklist was amazing, I wish i had some of these songs.
The crowd, the music and atmosphere started to be better and better with ISOS 4 tracks that Tiesto played.

I couldnt believe Tiesto holded the lebanese flag. Do you think it is for marketing purposes guys?? He was so happy and jumping like mad.

When he came back and played again, me and SAMER where waiting for the harmonic track: ADVANCE by MARCEL WOODS. It was the very last track! And when TIESTO played it, TranceHiters were jumping like mad specially samer holding his cell and filming the No1 DJ.

Tiesto has an amazing music. But for a reason or another, this DJ doesnt deserve to be the NO1 DJ anymore...

Rudz