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Tiesto’s Elements Of Life: reviewed Reported by Matt Dahl / Submitted 23-05-07 18:17 The words, legendary, groundbreaking, revolutionary and other such hyperbolic terms of endearment are often handed out during discussions about DJs. But for every piece of praise, they will always be people retorting back with words like over hyped, egotistical and just plain rubbish. One man who seems to get this more than most is Tiesto. So when the DJ embodiment of Marmite took over Alexandra Place, for the UK leg of his Elements of Life world tour, I just had to go along to judge myself. I’ve never really been a fan of Tiesto, I’d seen him live a couple of times before and to be honest it didn’t really do anything for me. I’ve always seen him as successful marketing over actual substance so coming into this event, I wasn’t expecting too much. Arriving at the venue at around half ten, I have to say I was amazed, but unfortunately, not in a good way. The queue to get in was stretching the entire length and width of the building, with another huge queue stretching down the hill in the opposite direction. A quick chat to the right people and I was in less than 15 minutes later but with the speed at which most people were allowed in being about as slow as Jade Goody, I imagine the farcical queuing will be an unwanted memory for a hell of a lot of people. Once through the doors and into the almost tropical entrance hall, things started to get a better. First port of call was the VIP room. A very large, mainly empty, room with some portaloos, a bar, a few sofas and a DJ playing in the corner. It was a nice area to have if you wanted to escape for a bit but, except for buying drinks, I barely went back there during the rest of the night. Walking into the Great Hall I was immediately greeted by a massive and rather poorly animated version of Tiesto playing on the massive screen behind the centrally placed DJ booth on the stage. If you’ve ever seen the video to Dire Straits – Money for Nothing, you’ll be able to picture what it was like. As teeth-grindingly cheesy as it was, it seemed to be doing the trick though, as a surprisingly large group of people were dancing and cheering along to tunes such as Jaytech – Manipulator and Supernova by Mashtronic. Warming up a trance night with upbeat Progressive House will always get my vote, it was just a shame there was no DJ doing it and that it was little more than a CD being played. It was quickly time for the main event and with the lights dipped low, moody thunder clouds filled the giant screen, a low bass built up the tone emanating from the speakers while the announcer needlessly attempted to work the crowd up. Suddenly Tiesto appeared in the DJ booth accompanied by an explosion of fireworks and a roar of approval from the crowd. What followed was a six hour audio visual feast of upfront and classic trance, lasers, strobes, pyrotechnics, ice cannons, flame throwers, confetti storms and live vocal performances. Trying to recount every track that was played would be about as pointless as Kelly Osborne entering Miss World. Going through the elements of life, water, fire, earth and air on the huge screen and with vocal accompaniment on some of the tracks, Tiesto went through his new tunes, from his new album Elements Of Life, while dropping the odd classic such as Blue Fear. 3am rolled around and judging by the reaction of everyone in the crowd it was the phase of the night everyone had been waiting for. All the Tiesto classics came out starting off with Suburban Train and working through his back catalogue of tunes. The nice touch of cutting the sound so the crowd could sing along to Love Comes Again was greatly appreciated but the biggest cheer of the night went out as soon as the first few bars of Adagio For Strings sailed through the venue. The one thing that has always failed to deliver at Alexandra Palace has been the sound system. But this time, someone had obviously thought a lot and got it spot on. Ok, the fact that I spent most of the night in with the sound and lighting guys in the middle of the room certainly helped but wherever I went in the room the sound was crystal clear with no perceivable delay or sound clashing at the back. The sound, for want of a better word, was perfect. Towards the end of the night the venue really came in to its own. As the sun rose, it shone through the glass in the roof, gradually lighting the main hall and helping to slowly ease the crowd to the end of the night. By the time Tiesto was in front of the DJ booth throwing out CDs and his headphones. No actual lighting was required. Now I know that a great deal of you are reading this and thinking, “Yes Matt, shiny lights and a few classic songs are all well and good, but deep down it doesn’t change what Tiesto is like as a DJ”. That may be true but I have a quick analogy for you. In Europe the most popular form of motor sport is Formula One. It is the pursuit of absolute perfection through innovation and total technical superiority. The U.S. on the other hand has Nascar. Where a bunch of fat men, driving tank size cars, go around in circles all afternoon. To put it bluntly, it has the sophistication of a meat pie deep fried in lard. But despite this and even though Nascar’s fan base is mainly rooted in the parts of the States where they think Deliverance is a documentary, it pulls in the size of crowds that F1 can only dream of. And the reason for this? Nascar puts on one hell of a show! Now we all know that Tiesto isn’t the most technically proficient DJ in the world, his mix into Delirium’s Silence on the night, for instance, made even my ham fisted attempts at mixing look positively sublime, but the vast majority of people don’t care, certainly none of the people in Ally Pally gave a damn. The likes of Sasha and Zabiela are without doubt the F1 boys, bringing us technically brilliant and innovative sets each time they play. Tiesto, on the other hand, is well and truly Nascar, what he lacked on the technical side that night he made up for and surpassed with showmanship. And that’s what brings in the numbers. We were there to be entertained and the night well and truly delivered. I wanted to hate this event, I would have loved to be able to say that it was nothing more than an over pretentious ego fest from a guy that has lost touch with reality. For one it would have made for a far more interesting review, but I can’t, and that’s annoying. The truth is that this was a fantastic event. Tiesto and his team knew exactly what the crowd wanted and then went and provided something ten times better. A great venue, an awesome show. This truly pains me to say so, but it has to rank up there as one of the best nights out I’ve had in a very long time. Photos courtesy of The HarderFaster Archive. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Matt Dahl: Tiësto's opening party @ Privilege: Reviewed What a Privilege. An interview with Tiësto. Dropping the Bomb – A night out with Faithless The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable. Comments: From: Sats on 24th May 2007 09:27.43 excellent review! I like the bit ..."would be about as pointless as Kelly Osborne entering Miss World" From: Alan-Banks on 24th May 2007 11:10.18 Nice review Makes me wish i had gone now From: Not Marcus on 24th May 2007 11:12.55 Nascar. From: Little Miss Moo on 24th May 2007 11:13.04 That's one of the most honest reviews I've read in a long time. It must have hurt to write that. From: SuviP on 24th May 2007 11:50.47 From: djdyju on 24th May 2007 12:15.28 Great read Matt, I wish I had been too now From: Attack Of The Jowlyhound on 24th May 2007 12:27.35 Wow, I can't believe someone put on an event at AP and got the sound decent. Sounds like it was a blast and nice to see a review that wasn't just a list of tunes and which of their mates they saw. From: James Terry on 24th May 2007 12:40.21 Wicked review and good read! From: Redrum on 24th May 2007 14:58.42 I was one of those people that came along as My sister is a huge Tiesto fan and I had low expectations but I was wrong. It was trully a fantastic night. Very glad I went. Really enjoyed reading that review! From: sexyminx on 24th May 2007 16:42.02 Wicked intervew, wicked night and wicked atmosphere Not a massive Tiesto fan, glad i went. to AP & Tiesto. Was not dissappointed at all. Thanks to Lee Beazley for a fun night & thanks to Dave Palmer for the ticket xx From: Toxic on 25th May 2007 09:01.50 Why would you want to hate a night you were going to? What a bizarre way to approach a night out?! Anyway, glad to hear it was good, Tiesto rocks! Although it's been a long long time since I've seen him... From: Majii on 25th May 2007 11:17.18 Great review, it was a definite good read and well done. Have to disagree with you on Tiesto though, he's definitely lost it right now, and putting on fancy shows won't make up for a poor album. Guess I prefer my F1 over Nascar. From: Dr DUZZIT on 29th May 2007 17:51.52 Quality read up From: Dubster on 30th May 2007 09:07.23 Tiesto is putting on massive shows of poor to average music as if he is still the worlds no.1, and the worlds no.1 is still playing great music in proper clubs. Says a lot a really. At least he played Urban Train. Great review with some good pics though. Good work. From: sophs on 1st Jun 2007 08:05.06 I don't think Tiesto has lost it - he's just become a huge icon for Holland. There are hundreds of Tiesto CDs out and no way are all of them amazing. He does however manage to hold his own and every now n then crank out a tune that reminds you why he got so big.

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