Last Thursday was the second mid-week show that I attended and yes it is cool but to be perfectly honest it aint easy to pull off especially in the middle of a 50hr work week. Nevertheless I strapped on a pair pounded a Red Bull and made my way into Denver to catch this absolute legend of trance music. Throughout his career this guy has done it all including being named the #1 DJ in the World twice by DJ Mag, without ever sacrificing the personal style and sound that makes him so great. To this day he is one of the only ‘founding fathers’ who has not strayed too far from his roots and still plays that classic driving trance combined with simple and beautiful keyboard based melodies. Sure you will find a bit of the more modern progressive sound in his sets but only as a placeholder in between blowing your socks off with thumping high BPM bombs.
Because of this I was very excited to get a night of unadulterated trance and he did not disappoint in any way shape or form. Due to my fatigue I regretfully missed the opening acts (wont happen next time guys) so I cant comment on their sets, but I arrived just as he took to the decks and from square one it was no-nonsense trance in your pants party time.
I took to my favorite spot on the second level and enjoyed the first hour as he played a nice selection of tunes from his Vandit Record Label. But as time progressed and he began slipping in his timeless classics I had to get my dance on and headed down to the main floor to join in the action.
My timing proved to be perfect and I arrived just as he started to play one of my personal favorites ‘Nothing But You’ and the place went nuts. Paul danced along with the crowd all while playing each and every one of the melodic notes on one of the two keyboards he had brought with him. (I managed to catch this whole scene on video so be sure to check it out at the bottom of the post) It was an amazing moment and brought me back to the life changing night I shared with Paul and many of my friends back in 2008 at Club Millenium in Montreal. His music touches your soul and it isnt just me who feels this way as I saw more than one fans on Thursday night who looked like 12yr old girls seeing the Spice Girls for the first time.
Paul continued through the night playing more big tunes like ‘No More Alone’ , ‘For an Angel’, ’Home’ and a new remix of ‘Starkillers, Nadia Ali & Alex Kenji – Pressure’ that I had never heard before. He really caught my attention again when he played ‘John O’callaghan’s – Skies on Fire’ a gorgeous driving tech trance tune with beautiful vocals that gives me goosebumps every on each rare occasion I hear it live.
There just are not many big DJ’s anymore who are willing to commit to such driving trance tunes these days as they all are moving to a no mans land middle ground where all genres of music are coming together in a much softer final product.
As the night came to a close I could not have been happier about being a part of it. No frills and no nonsense, just PVD doing what he does best, laying down some epic trance tunes for all of us in attendance to enjoy. Big thanks to Tommy Michael and Beta Nightclub for yet another amazing booking and for hooking us up with the guest list. Can’t wait to do it again in the coming weeks!
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