ARMIN ONLY INTENSE: MANILA REVIEW/SUMMARY

ARMIN ONLY INTENSE 

What: Armin Only Intense World Tour

Where: SM Mall of Asia, Pasay city, Philippines

When: 10:00 pm - May 30^th, 2014

Allowed age group: 18+

              After 5 years the world class DJ returns to Manila to perform for his infamous Armin Only Intense world tour. This event was announced last Feb.27, 2014 co-promoted by BIGFISH INTERNATIONAL and other sponsors. This was also the first time the ARMIN ONLY event was held in Philippines and attendees were treated for a magical 6 hrs DJ SHOW!

My Personal Pre-show Opinion:

                Before we get started, I have many thoughts for this event and also a little bit of background. I just became a fan of AVB around Feb of 2012 and discovered him through his consistency in the DJMAG Top 100 list. My hometown is from the province area so that means Trance Music is a genre where little to none was even a matter of a conversation. Most people here don’t know who Armin really is and most of them only know his track “This is What it Feels Like” through radio stream or internet. So that means I have no friends to accompany me to this event. On May 29^th, I traveled to the capital city of Manila and get ready the following night. One of the things that was bugging my mind is how he play his style here, I know certain DJs will play a different set for a certain kind of crowd, So is he going play more mainstream or is he going to remain true to his current style?

FINALLY THE EVENT…

                The venue was just 10 minutes drive from the hotel but the sessions of traffic here in Manila come a bit a pain in the ass. Before that I bought some stuffs (2 lollipops and Marlboro black 10’s) at a local 7/11 convenience store. I also brought w/ me a camera (pics & vids bad quality mostly) and wore WHO’S AFRAID OF 138?! shirt. Arrived at the venue around 10:00 pm and also saw some international crowd from Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, India and other foreigners. Funny thing was that I went alone but I always have a confident in my mind: “I got more taste than most people here” #solorave. Most people there have same kind of T-shirt design - “Armin Only Intense”, “TWIFL”, and a couple of “ASOT” tees. I notice that I was the only one wearing WAO138 and some look at me weirdly for what’s the meaning of the sign LOL. After that I went to the dark arena and people there are sitting on the ground waiting for Armin to come up.

              

                 Around 10:30 PM, the spherical shape from the top slowly coming down and signals that Armin is about to do his warm-up set. The crowd cheered and I myself was getting shivers right at that moment.

*video of Armin about to come up https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=883527951663439*

                Armin played some techno and progressive tracks from ASOT behind that spherical shape thing. After 15 minutes or so, smoke coming from the right side, Eller van Buuren shows up and played the acoustic cover of Imagine and Zocalo.

                

                     The crowd cheered wildly for the first appearance of an artist. During that time I met 2 guys from Iran who also can relate as to what Armin was playing and became my buddies for the night. AVB mostly played Top tracks of ASOT last year during the warm-up set. After 3 or 4 tracks played by Armin, Fiora comes up on the stage and sang Waiting for the Night. I was singing to the lyrics and the visuals was awesomely beautiful.

               

                

                After that, Cindy Alma appeared w/ a pianist from where Eller was located before and sang Don’t Want to Fight Love Away. I felt that I was TRANCEported to a different kind of universe.

                

                 After 1 hr. of the warm-up set, Dancers appeared and were like the Greek gods and goddesses in real life, They surrounded that object for AVB about to do his main set and the crowd cheered wildly for that ecstatic moment.

* video https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=883856271630607 *

                I must also admit that I a bit biased for tracks that’s not 138/140, but it didn’t bother for me to enjoy couple of Trance 2.0 and Bigroom because I was totally enjoying for that matter. Great visuals, good sound system & pyrotechnics added to the incredible evening show! My 2 friends wanted to take a break and went to the CR, bought bottle water, cups of beer though those were expensive as expected, also during our break Trevor Guthrie was singing This is What it Feels Like. After that we went back to our area, 3-4 tracks played by Armin, Lauren Evans appeared on the stage and sang Alone w/ dancers doing their thing. It was amazing and was like a broadway show at that moment. Laura Jansen also appeared and sang Sound of the Drums, she was so beautiful and I also have a crush on her LOL. I will definitely give the  tracklist at the end of this review cause right now I’m just focusing on the tracks on the album INTENSE. One of the highlights of the night, Armin was playing We are Here to Make Some Noise w/ his brother Eller. * If you look closely to Eller's guitar, it’s not the electric guitar and it’s not even your typical acoustic one... First time to see this, It's a really cool touch screen!* Van Buuren brothers showing their unique skills!

* video https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=885733804776187 *

         After that, Armin was playing the ASOT 650 Anthem track New Horizons and was holding a mic saying stuffs about his weekly radioshow ASOT. After a couple of tracks played, my buddies wanted to go outside to take a break and talk about PING PONG thing. We went back after that and again couple of tracks played, there was a sign on the LED screen saying “Everybody Sitdown”, a signal to get ready for PING PONG.

* video https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=885739931442241 *

* video ready https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=883860608296840 *

* PING PONG BALLOONS https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=884234554926112 *

               

 

                  Some of the fans were so lucky and added those yellow AO balloons to their remembrance list. I also thought the PING PONG theme was kinda late to show because the main set was almost over, but nevertheless it was worth the wait for that kind of experience. Laura Jansen appeared behind Armin and sang Use Somebody and they were too sweet to watch LOL.

* video https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=884951204854447 *

                 After that he played Brush Strokes. Armin then played my all time favorite mashup “Airport Shivers”, WOW! I was going apeshit for that song, he also showed the Philippine Flag at that moment!

* video of Airport Shivers https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=884961158186785 *

                  The show was almost over when he played the WAO138 w/ transition to Baggabownz version. The WAO138 sign appeared on the LED screen, and I for that moment took my shirt off and wave to the crowd what’s on my shirt LOL. The main show was over with Armin thanking the crowd and said to us to stay for a while because he has a surprise to show.

* video https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=885500351466199 *

               

 

                  After a couple seconds, he appeared immediately to the middle part of the arena where the visuals were operating. I was very happy at that moment because Armin played the classic vinyl set for us and it was a truly special moment for A REAL TRANCE FAN. Though I was enjoying that nostalgic feeling, some fans were a bit music shock for that type of sound LOL.

My two buddies for the night: dark catch 

* video https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=885509388131962 *

* video https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=885524871463747 *

             

                    I also thought he stopped playing after 7 classic tracks because the crowd was already tired?, but anyway it was truly a spectacular show and enjoyed every minute of it! After the event I went back to the hotel as to where I stayed, my body was tired and after couple of hrs., my body was already feeling a bit of cramps maybe because of the full-on rave of mine. 

                   A trance addict like myself really enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience, I also thought this event will be hard to top but it's Armin we are talking here, the guy has the record of putting one of the best electronic dance event we've seen, heard, and really should NEVER DOUBT the King of Trance!. 

                                         

In Trance We Trust!

               

           



      NOTE: This tracklist is not accurate because the show was long but at least I gave it a                            try though ;)

TRACKLIST

*Armin van Buuren ft. Cindy Alma - Beautiful Life (Protoculture remix) played but missed w/c part of the mainset*

WARMUP SET:

1. ID - ID (techno/progressive)

2. Coldplay - Midnight (Urban Contact remix)

3. ID - ID (techno/progressive)

4. Armin van Buuren ft. Eller van Buuren - Imagine

5. Armin van Buuren ft. Eller van Buuren - Zocalo

6. London Grammar - Hey Now (Arty remix)

7. Andrew Bayer vs Armin van Buuren ft. Emma Hewitt - Forever is Once Lydian (Armin van Buuren Mashup)

8. Above and Beyond - Hello

9. Armin van Buuren ft. Fiora - Waiting for the Night (Beat Service remix)

10. Cosmic Gate & Eric Lumiere - Falling Back

11. Armin van Buuren ft. Cindy Alma - Don’t Want to Fight the Love Away

12. Shogun - Zanarkand

13. DJ Eco - A Cry to the Moon

14. ID - ID (techno/progressive)

15. Armin van Buuren - Last Stop Before Heaven

MAINSET:

1. Armin van Buuren ft. Miri Ben-Ari - Intense

2. Andrew Rayel - Dark Warrior

3. Armin van Buuren vs W&W - D#Fat

4. Andrew Rayel ft. Alexandra Badoi - Goodbye

5. W&W - Bigfoot

6. Armin van Buuren * - Eat Sleep Rave Repeat vs Crushed vs No Good (Armin van Buuren Mashup)

7. Orjan Nilsen - Late Anthem (way too late mix)

8. Armin van Buuren ft. Trevor Guthrie - This is What it Feels Like (John Ewbank classical remix vs W&W remix)

9. Orjan Nilsen - Late Anthem (way too late mix)

10. Jorn van Deyhoven - New Horizons (Mark Sixma remix)

11. Marlo - Visions

12. Andrew Rayel & Armin van Buuren - Eiforya

13. Armin van Buuren ft. Lauren Evans - Alone

14. Armin van Buuren ft Gaia - Empire of Hearts

15. ID - ID (trance)

16. Dash Berlin ft. Jonathan Mendelsohn - Worlds Falls Apart (Jorn van Deyhoven remix)

17. Heatbeat - Aerys

18. Armin van Buuren ft. Laura Jansen - Sound of the Drums

19. Armin van Buuren vs Rank 1 - World is Watching (Willem de Roo Bootleg) 

20. Paul van Dyk ft. Plumb vs Estiva - I Don’t Deserve You vs Dinodrums (Armin van Buuren Mashup)

21. Armin van Buuren - Save my Night

22. Armin van Buuren - Pulsar

23. Armin van Buuren - We are Here to Make Some Noise

24. Fisherman & Hawkins - Apache

25. Faithless - Insomnia (Andrew Rayel remix)

26. Jorn van Deyhoven - New Horizons (original mix)

27. Idina Menzel - Let it Go (Armin van Buuren remix)

28. Armin van Buuren ft. Richard Bedford - Love Never Came (transition to Baggabownz)

29. Ram - Ramelia

30. ID - ID (trance)

31. ID - ID (track that sounded like DISS!)

32. ID - ID (trance)

33. Mannix - Pyramid (badass drummer)

34. Sasha Carassi & Mikael Jonasson vs Gaia - Status Excessu D Void (Thriller Acapella) (AvB Mashup)

35. Gareth Emery ft. Cristina Novelli vs ft. Bo Bruce - Concrete Angel vs U (Bryan Kearney remix) (AvB Mashup)

36. Armin van Buuren ft. Christian Burns - This Light Between Us

37. Armin van Buuren - Orbion

38. Armin van Buuren ft. Van Velzen - Broken Tonight

39. Armin van Buuren ft. Jennifer Renee - Fine Without You

40. Solarstone & Scott Bond vs Armin van Buuren feat Sophie Ellis Bextor - Not Giving Up On 3rd Earth (Heatbeat remix) (Armin van Buuren Mashup)

41. Armin van Buuren - Communication

42. Armin van Buuren - Full Focus

43. ID - ID (trance)

44. Armin van Buuren ft. Winter Kills vs ft. Susana - Take a Moment (Alex Morph remix) vs Shivers

45. Armin van Buuren ft. BT - These Silent Hearts

46. Armin van Buuren - Mirage

47. Armin van Buuren ft. Jan Vayne - Serenity

48. Armin van Buuren ft. Sharon Den Adel vs John O’Callaghan - In and Out of a Raw Deal (AVB Mashup)

49. Armin van Buuren - Ping Pong

50. Martin Garrix - Animals (Broning bootleg)

51. Armin van Buuren vs Arctic Moon vs One Republic - If I Lose Myself vs Coming Home (Shura Vlasov Mashup)

52. Lee Miller vs Passenger - Atlantic Island vs Let Her Go (Armin van Buuren Mashup)

53. Shogun vs Jase Thirlwall - Skyfire vs Freaked (Armin van Buuren Mashup)

54. Armin van Buuren ft. Aruna - Won’t Let You Go (Ian Standerwick remix)

55. Armin van Buuren & Laura Jansen - Use Somebody (Armin van Buuren rework)

56. Simon Patterson - Brush Strokes

57. Armin van Buuren vs Photographer - Airport Shivers (Armin van Buuren Mashup)

58. Armin van Buuren vs Ferry Corsten - Brute (Armin van Buuren illegal drum edit)

59. Armin van Buuren ft. Justine Suissa - Burned With Desire

60. Armin van Buuren - Who’s Afraid of 138?! (transition to Baggabownz version) aka Reprise

CLASSIC VINYL SET:

1. Push - Universal Nation
2. Gaia - Tuvan
3. Paul van Dyk - For an Angel
4. Randy Katana - Play it louder
5. Marcel Woods - Advanced
6. DJs United - Remember Love
7. Armin van Buuren - Sail

Thank You for reading! If YOU want to know me more here is my account below

My Account:

https://www.facebook.com/kj.tankit

https://twitter.com/KevinJohnTanKit