22 January 2011
Interview
BEIRUT: When international trance DJ Armin van Buuren takes center stage at 10 p.m. tonight at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure center, he won’t be leaving the turntables until sunrise tomorrow morning.
“I’m the only DJ on the night and it incorporates loads of live acts and performances,” van Buuren said of his nine-hour long concert, a part of his 2010-11 “Armin Only – Mirage” world tour.
“I like to see it as the next level of DJing,” he told The Daily Star during a press event at the Intercontinental Phoenicia Friday. “Armin Only is different from other sets I do. With all the different elements, it’s almost like a theater show at some points, but the music never stops.”
The idea for this extensive concert – complete with indoor fireworks, 20 dancers flown in from Lithuania and the largest moveable LED structure in the region, among other features – first started in 2000, when van Buuren felt he had too many great tracks to share for a typical three-hour DJ set.
“I said to my manager, I want to play for nine hours solo,” van Buuren said. “It started at small clubs and … it has just gotten bigger and bigger.”
Between 15,000 and 20,000 people are expected to show up for Saturday’s show, according to Roger Saad of MIX FM, the event sponsor, and he said so far there was little sign the nation’s current political turmoil would affect turnout.
“We have a couple of great surprises that we can’t reveal now,” Saad told reporters. “The music is about unity and this night is really the proof of how Lebanon can be a great country.”
The Dutch-born van Buuren was voted the number one DJ in the world by DJ Magazine in 2010 for the fourth year in a row, making him the first-ever DJ to receive four consecutive number one titles.
“Mirage,” his latest, is van Buuren’s fourth studio album. In addition to collaborating with English singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Baxtor, British singer Christian Burns, and Dutch trance producer Ferry Corsten, among others, he worked with a whole classical orchestra on the opening track.
“I didn’t know how my fans would receive it but I’m really glad they understand it and the album went gold in three countries already, so mission accomplished,” van Buuren said.
“I’m not focused like, oh I should be number one or I should be on top,” he said. “I’m really passionate about this music and I stay in close contact with my fans. The funny thing is, the less you try to be on top, the easier it is.”
Beirut will be the only city in the Middle East hosting Armin Only, an event that does not come around every year – a deliberate move by van Buuren. “I wanted to do an ‘Armin Only’ tour only when I really have something to say, when I have fresh, new music.”
The DJ has performed in Lebanon on numerous occasions since 2005, and when asked about what it is that keeps him coming back, van Buuren sighted the spirit of the Lebanese people.
“Here people live with their hearts and it’s really nice to see that. As a DJ it’s the best feeling.” – With Emily Morris
Copyright The Daily Star 2011.
