“Thank you so much Mumbai…you all have been amazing tonight!! Be safe wherever you go…and whatever you do…DO IT INTENSE!”

With these words, Trance pioneer Armin van Buuren brought down the curtains to one of the most monumental nights for dance music in India. In a night that featured a 6 hour marathon set from the star Dutchman himself, performances by 6 renowned trance vocalists, dancers & acrobats and a full live band, all in tandem with cutting-edge light, sound, visuals and pyrotechnics..it can be easily summarized as one of the finest experiences we’ve ever had the privilege of witnessing.

The Armin Only show Director Jos Thie has repeatedly spoken about the mergence of dance music with a theatre-esque appeal to create a unique and seamless experience for the audiences, and the show went many a times beyond the physical, as the euphoric and uplifting nature of trance music occasionally took us on journeys like never before. Brought down to India by premier dance music event organizer, Sunburn and held at the iconic NSCI stadium in Mumbai, the show was a melange of never seen before experiences and the meticulously crafted details of the event were rewarded by the giant smiles and beaming faces that left exhausted from the venue only by midnight!

The historic Armin Only show was envisioned by Armin way back in 2005. He launched the show in his own country, Amsterdam in December 2005 and performed an extended set that featured some 90 trance classics besides live performances by vocalists for his various collaborations. We were lucky to have met the trance king himself earlier in the day at the Sunburn office as he answered some of our queries! Armin best described the Armin Only venture as “Christmas dinner with Armin”, as it was 6 hours of only Armin van Buuren performing live for the audience.

He spoke about the importance of building up a set in order to create a journey like how most classical DJ sets were. He went on to add that as a DJ its perhaps easy for him to download the top 20 tracks from any chart and play a short energetic 2 hour set, ‘but where’s the fun in that?!’ Emphasizing on making the Armin Only: Intense tour a more extended journey from the release of his album last year, he promised a bag of surprises for the audience and a unique experience for all attendees! The 5 time world #1 DJ and Grammy nominated producer has never ceased to amaze everyone with his energy, devotion and passion for dance music, and bringing his vision to India was in many ways a testament to the fact, that India indeed had cemented itself firmly on the dance music world map.

Friday, the 24th of January will long be remembered as the day when history was created in Mumbai. Social and written media had spoken about the event for many weeks in advance and the buzz and excitement was nerve-tingling. On the day itself, we entered an already packed venue at 6 pm, which was the scheduled starting time for the show. The Box Office was thronging with people as word had quickly spread that Armin was indeed making his way onto the stage at sharp 6 pm. Without further ado, we proceeded towards the main arena. This was the first time that Sunburn had picked the NSCI indoor stadium as it’s arena, and given the top notch setup that they’re consistent for, we were quite excited to see the setup and arrangement.

Entering from the lowermost level, we entered through a narrow corridor with the sound of applause and music ringing in our ears. Through a dark corridor with lasers glimmering at the end, we entered the venue and turned our gaze towards the stage. We simply froze at the sight of the magical arena! With the sound and light team rooted in the centre, vociferously navigating the proceedings, the stage was pushed way in the front to allow more space for the fans to have clear sights of the performers. The stage was adorned on the right side with a drum kit and on the left side with a piano and right in the middle, enclosed in a sphere of white canvas with arms raised and hard at work was the man himself – Armin van Buuren, he was here in Mumbai kicking off his 6 hour journey with us! It took a couple of minutes to sink in that one of the finest DJ’s of our times was in touching distance.

Already, the air was buzzing with excitement and an electricity had gripped the audience! Many had been anticipating this incredible-night-to-be for months now. Even in the most initial parts of the night, the light work was far superior than anything we had ever witnessed before. The visualizations behind Armin were gorgeous as a landscape with Armin’s face neatly etched on it, changed its hues with the changing moods of the tracks. Director Jos Thie had spoken about the mergence of dance and theater in the road movies that we presented to you last week and we were starting to see how he made his vision a reality!

Talking about the music, Armin was conducting the crowd like no other, despite not even being visible to the crowd yet! With Band of Horses’s “The Funeral (Dash Berlin Remix)” and Artificial‘s promising debut “Prototype”, he got the building crowd momentarily elevated! Building a 6 hour set is no mean task, and Armin found a balance early on, balancing the peaks and lows of his music selection, as he merged his collaboration with Arty “Nehellenia” with Beat Service‘s remix of “Waiting for the night”.

Following such an explosive start, it was time for one of the first live acts as Fiora emerged from a secret door camouflaged behind the screen in a black shimmering dress, just like the shifting landscape which was part of the visualization. A beautiful masterpiece was being rendered as Fiora delivered a stunning vocal performance with a single hand raised calling out to Armin who’s silhouette could be seen reciprocating the gesture through the giant white sphere.

More bliss followed as Armin dazzled the crowd with gems such as his remix of Kat Krazy‘s “Siren” on the trail of the absolutely euphoric “Cry To The Moon” by Eco. The Indian vocal sample faded away into obscurity any baggage we got along with us on this melodic uplifting journey. Ending the first quarter of his show with the hard hitting “Last Stop Before Heaven” from his album, Armin gave sonic clues for the magic that was to unfold.
and after 90 mins of being shown only a shadow of Armin, the sphere finally lifted.

Silence had fallen upon the crowd prior to the revelation, and the loudness of the cheers after Armin made his first appearance to the Mumbai crowd was such that, it may have been literally deafening for an unlucky few! The famous hands that lift the glowing white sphere in all the Intense promos that we have seen, actually took place in a spectacular 3 dimensional spectacle, as hands emerged from either sides behind Armin and lifted the sphere which enclosed Armin to reveal the beaming superstar, arms raised and face glowing!

The careful trickle of the album’s title track Intense was becoming almost inaudible with the incessant cheering from the thousands thronging forward to catch a glimpse of their hero and it wasn’t before long that the hypnotic violin melody by Miri Ben Ari encapsulated our senses and silence fell upon the crowd again as they joined Armin in his famous ‘hands-raised’ gesture. The intense breakdown of “Intense” got the crowd swarming almost instantly as the lights and visualizations danced along with us. Soon, Armin sped up to his collaboration with W&W, “D# Fat”. But that was not all. Dancers emerged from either sides of the stage, wearing full body outfits in various colours doing a synchronized slow motion dance! It was surely an exciting sight and not one that anybody in the crowd had anticipated!

As the crowd began to steadily build, so did the euphoric quotient in Armin’s set. Enter the gorgeous Cindy Alma dancing away to those toxic beats as she enthralled the audience and asked them to sing along with her. After the euphoria, Armin dropped down the bass anthems as he unleashed W&W‘s monster production “Big Foot” and one of his very own mash-up’s, Cosmic Gate & Mark Sixma vs. Riva Starr & Fatboy Slim vs. Fedde Le Grand & Sultan & Ned Shepard‘s “Crushed vs. Eat Sleep Rave Repeat vs. No Good”?.

Shortly after a couple of trance symphonies, the famous melodic trickle of “This Is What It Feels Like” appeared and was met by screaming fans as a subdued entry by Trevor Guthrie had fans tracing the source of his magical voice! Finally entering from the extreme right side of the stage, he gradually joined Armin in the centre as they insisted that the Mumbai crowd jump as high as they could by the time the stunning production faded into W&W’s remix of the track. Clearly one of the highlights of the night and his album, the immense popularity of the track was once more certified through the let-loose attitude of the Mumbai audience!

Soon entered Lauren Evans who delivered a stunning solo performance, as Armin seemingly vanished under the decks. She proceeded to sing and narrate the story behind their song “Alone”, making the experience extremely personal for us. By the time the breakdown arrived, she stretched her hands behind the decks to pull Armin out as they perfectly timed their jump into the beat, hopping along haplessly along with the capacity crowd at the NSCI.

Armin then proceeded to drop Jorn Van Deynhoven‘s fantastic remix of Dash Berlin‘s track, “When the World Falls Apart”. The sweet vocals had us celebrating our love for trance with the man who has come to define the genre through his popular radio show and stellar performances. Soon thereafter, a most unique and ubiquitous remix of yesteryear classic “Insomnia” painted the arena in hues of white and blue as the cool melodic synths that have come to define the starting point of any dance music lover plucked away into our consciousness till a confetti pop at the incredible breakdown bought us back to the Sunburn Arena!

Shortly thereafter the gorgeous Laura Jansen could be seen seated at the piano on the right side of the stage as Armin immersed the crowd into silence. As Lauren began to unwind the heavenly chords from “Sound Of The Drums” through a solo piano bit, the audience members grabbed hands and swayed to the melody. Not for long though as Armin took back control and plunged them into a beats and bass bliss as Lauren climbed atop the piano and did a little jig herself!

The energy in the crowd was infectious as the show so far was far beyond anything we had ever experienced. Full of surprises and with the best in sound and light at display, the fans were on a specially curated experience by Armin himself, which amplified the feeling to greater heights!

An aggressive mash up between Estiva‘s “Dinodrums” and Paul Van Dyk & Plumb‘s “I Don’t Deserve You” returned the purists into a state of trance before Armin’s “Pulsar” turned it into a fantastic visual spectacle. The trampoline artists appeared on stage and began to flip across either sides of Armin as some members held their breath while others lost it while dancing! An innovative new venture in the Armin Only project and without a doubt, one that only adds to the entire experience of making it all the more memorable.

Next up was Armin’s bold new venture, “Drink Less. Dance More” and his awesome release titled “Save My Night”. Those classic trance synths ringed through the crowd as Armin spread the message of always dancing but with a controlled fervour. And then..moments later, history was made at the Sunburn Arena, NSCI.

For the very first time in Mumbai and India, the van Buuren brothers shared stage space as Armin’s brother Eller entered behind the chunky guitar riffs of Armin’s “We Are Here To Make Some Noise”. Supported by dancers on either side, Eller proceeded to do what can be best described as some catchy Bollywood moves as all eyes were on the brothers raising temperatures inside the arena! At the breakdown of the track, sparks began to fly off Eller’s guitar as the audience jumped at almost athletic capability! Certainly another memorable moment as we saw the two make magic on stage with their chemistry!

Playing the ASOT 600 de facto anthem “Apache” by Fisherman and Hawkins, Armin then proceeded to drop the brand new ASOT 650 anthem titled “New Horizons” by Jorn Van Deynhoven. He then went on to dedicate the new anthem to the ‘Trance Family’ of India for showing him so much love and appreciation through all the years of his iconic radio show! The love and excitement contained further as Armin invited on stage not one, not two but three other performers on stage for his next track.

Jamming with the Bagga Bownz on the left side of the stage Armin mashed up his track “Love Never Came” with the live instruments on stage. As in the mean time the ‘voice of trance’, Richard Bedford approached from the darkness singing along the mellow ballad, as Eller’s riffs ripped through the crowd. As the drop approached dancers circled around the piano on the extreme right end making the performance quite panoramic! It was a delightful way to present one of the most heartwarming productions on the album.

Armin then followed that with two absolute euphoric and melodic delights. First up was RAM‘s absolutely emotional “RAMelia” followed by the surrealistic “Aurora” by Beat Service. The gorgeous blend of the anthemic vocals with heavenly trance progressions extended the musical terrain of the night and brought a tear to the eye of one too many. Slowly and steadily Armin began to infuse some uplifting gestures through his set as he lifted the BPM’s ever so slightly.

A sonic clue to this was the introduction of Armin’s alter ego Gaia and the tracks “J’ai Envie De Toi” and “Humming The Lights”. Acrobats returned to the stage and further enthralled the crowds alongside some stunning visuals in the background. Moments later, our tingling dance buds were satiated by a magical mash-up of two of Armin’s finest tracks from his 2010 album ‘Mirage’ – “These Lights Between Us” and “Orbion”.

This was certainly turning out to be a Christmas dinner with Armin! what followed next was an incredible melody that saw three singers perform three crowd favourite tracks one after another transforming the night into a scorching Karaoke contest. Richard Bedford sang to almost equally resounding effect of Van Velzen‘s “Broken Tonight”, before the vocalists returned to sing another of Armin‘s gems, “Fine Without You” which then led to a monster mash-up of another gem by the legend, “Not Giving Up On Love” along with Heatbeat‘s remix of Solarstone & Scott Bond’s, “3rd Earth”?which when fused with live vocals elevated the experience for us!

Armin has been redefining trance trends with his genre defining sound and his single, “Communication” released in 2000 catapulted him into the trance elite as a dominant stay all the way till today. It was a significant and an incredible gesture that besides dropping his magnanimous classic, he went on to dedicate the single to the lovely people of Mumbai for showering him with accolade, praise and unending love elevating our sense of wonder at the humbling nature of the trance king.

The night was gradually introducing more and more pure trance sounds, as Armin was fulfilling his promise of building a set rather than dropping the Top 20 from any list. Collaborating with such talent through his show, we witnessed another memorable moment as along with Trevor Guthrie, each performer gradually walked into the stage contributing their skill in making an almost orchestral version of his collaboration with BT’s “These Silent Hearts”. Flanked by the singers on either side, the band on the left and Eller head banging to the guitar solo on the right, and a beating heart visualization in the background, Armin swayed along in the centre of it all as a mesmerized audience got a full sense of the boundless talent present in front of them at that moment! With the vocals fading into “…let silence be broken..”, a silence did indeed fall over the arena and all the performers stood still with arms extended down. And as the hypnotic synth-work of Armin feat Jan Vayne‘s “Serenity” began to lift in tempo, so did the arms of the performers.

They slowly raised their arms till they touched the sky, and as the beat came down began to jump and hop with impish energy as the crowd went into a relentless frenzy themselves! Oh, what a sight it was! To celebrate this moment with all the performers and all audience members on their feet, the air was absolutely electrifying with energy!

Armin then let loose a bass-heavy mashup of “In And Out Of Love” with John O’ Callaghan‘s “Raw Deal”. Those pounding bass-lines combined with that sweet vocal melody transformed the crowd into an almost ritualistic herd of trance mongers, as they jumped and began to grab the lasers pointed down at them through the giant light assembly above them! But believe it or not, the night was far from over and was yet to give us some more spectacles! The screen behind Armin gradually flickered in the vocals “PING……PONG” as a video-game sounding pulse oscillated back and forth the visualization.

As silence fell upon the audience and darkness embraced the arena, a light shone on Armin as he faced the crowd and swayed his hands on the right and magically, synchronized with the beat, a ping pong ball dropped on his right on the screen behind. Likewise, he then swayed his hands on the left and another ping pong ball dropped on his left side! As the melody transgressed into more complex patters, Armin swayed his arms accordingly initiating a wave of similar sways by audience members. A third and fourth ping pong ball made the melody richer and Armin’s arms sway faster.

The experience was more 3 dimensional than all the moments combined in the night! As a complex breakdown of pulses, beats and a trance infused melodic riffs began to build the energy, the hands enclosing the glowing Intense ball returned on the main screen and released a giant ping pong ball hovering over Armin! And then, an unsuspecting crowd were showered with giant Ping Pong balls seemingly from the sky above!

The giant balls had smileys over them with the initials A.O. (for Armin Only) and the crowd punched them to create an almost parade like experience as the brilliant track continued to oscillate our gravity pulls from the earth! It was another memorable moment of the night!

Now, one wouldn’t expect the Martin Garrix festival anthem “Animals” to be dropped at a stage like this but the remix by Broning simply fit like a glove to those previous pulse sounds from “Ping Pong”! Then followed a red and black marquee of the text ” WHO’S AFRAID OF 138?” and a ferocious roar encompassed the arena as the moment for uplifting and driving trance had indeed arrived!

The track on Armin’s album last year spawned a historic revival of the harder styles of trance, as a ASOT stage dedicated to it followed by its own sub-label on Armada reinstated that the uplifting styles of trance will never go out of musical fashion. Surely enough with tracks like Simon Patterson‘s “Brush Strokes” the BPM’s continued to soar as Armin dropped the genre-fusing mashup of Armin Van Buuren & Arctic Moon vs. OneRepublic‘s “If I Lose Myself Coming Home (Shura Vlasov Mashup)” and just a little while later he followed it up with an amazing live performance by Laura Jansen on “Use Somebody”.

A few yesteryear vocal trance anthems then followed which made the atmosphere slightly more anthemic and euphoric. The inaugural edition of Armin Only in 2005 ended with Armin’s beautiful composition, “Burned with Desire”, as he climbed the decks at the AHOY arena and began to cry at the sheer pulchritude of the moment. So as he dropped his classic here at NSCI, a few of us sure went deep into a state of trance and nostalgia as the memories ushered in guided by the sweet vocals of Justine Suissa. And as the vocals faded into “…but you left me in the rain..”, a digital rainfall ensued along the entire length of the visualization screen making the experience of the song all the more surreal!

Next up we were treated to a crisp transition into Armin’s legendary collaboration with Ferry Corsten on “Brute”. As that tempo change arrived, the drummer Koen Herfst returned on the stage and performed the palpable Illegal drum edit version live for the listening pleasure of the thousands present.

Armin grabbed the mic and insisted that every person in the audience regardless of where they were standing must jump as the breakdown comes, and he was certainly acknowledged! The stadium shook and swerved as thousands upon thousands jumped and danced in all corners of the arena certainly causing ripples even on the Richter scale!

An untimely glance at the watch and we realized that we had nearly approached the end of the night. The thought was saddening as not a dull moment had passed in the course of the night and yet more surprises awaited us! Enter Eller Van Buuren once again to the center stage as he plugged away on Armin’s genre reviving “Who’s Afraid of 138? (Photographer Remix)”. Making for another unforgettable moment, in a touching display of brotherly love, Armin left his DJ booth and hugged Eller from behind as he continued to electrify the audience with his electric guitar riffs! It was a beautiful moment! Talent indeed runs in this family and we were lucky enough to see such love and passion shared with us at this stage!

Ending, just like his album, with “Reprise”, Bagga Bownz reappeared on stage followed by all the singers, dancers as well as the acrobats. Armin then proceeded to acknowledge the team as he introduced each of the performers and lauded the spectacular sound and light teams rooted at the centre of the arena who were still navigating and working tirelessly to complete the experience for us.

All the performers joined on stage and took a bow as the confetti pops and pyrotechnics filled the air with a sense of aura and relinquishment. The lights faded and the music stopped and within seconds the stage was empty, albeit only for a few seconds, as Armin and his team returned, but this time they were dancing to the playful chords of the video-game pulse of “Ping Pong”!

Armin and his team performed a special dance for the crowd as they happily danced away to end a very successful performance from all members on all fronts! And finally, as the track ended abruptly with a short fade and loud thud, the performers collected again in the centre and took one final bow as the words “GAME OVER” appeared on the visuals screen! An exciting end to an awesome show of light, sound and visuals!

We left the venue, a little dazed and confused as to the wonders we had witnessed, as 6 hours of incessant dancing and cheering left our muscles sore and voices screeched but a deep sense of amazement still hung over our heads. Many of us are yet to fully recover from this incredible spectacle as the Intense show showed us how many facets of entertainment can be merged into one to create a theatrical experience of sorts for audience members leaving them with so many memories!

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So much credit must be given to Sunburn and the other teams involved in this mammoth show, as it ended with a resounding success leaving no one to say that they simply had an ordinary night!

Review By:  Hamed Khalidi

Edited By: Aditya Seth