Who went then?

Me and 7 mates hopped over the pond and went.

Bit of a mixed bag really. we got there at 10pm but the event clearly didnt start until 12:30 because until then Armin was hidden behind screens and the lighting was weak. The sound system was so bassy it drowned out most the PA vocals and melodies. For about 90 minutes from 12:30 I thought Armin was amazing, for the rest of the night the music was too similar - hard hitting bass lines with little melody.

And Utrecht is shit, there is nothing there haha!

I was there and I enjoyed more the AO 2008 than this one. Even I went to Armada Closing Party in Ibiza and I really enjoyed more this party wit Markus Schulz, Gareth Emery and Sander van Doorn.

I arrived around 23.30.

I was suprised how quick he smached out the Mirage tracks, I dont Own you, Take A Moment...

Then from the Mirage opening right till around the Armin van Buuren Megamix part it was great. Not many suprises though, tracklisting was quite predictable, but still fun to hear those big tracks of 2010 out in full on such a sound system.

Sometimes a tad too loud, but mostly pretty good. Lasers weren't seen often, only ones in a while at a climax... lightning wasn't amazing. There was a lot of fog so Armin coudn't be seen well. (Well on the video screens of course).

After the Armin megamix (cool new edit of blue fear!!) I was getting tired. Around 5:00 Armin got me going for a bit again with tracks like Comet/Tweak Your Nipple and Minack. Then Benno de Goeij came for a little classics-part and that was great, unfortunately the sound quality dropped for a bit, some melodies were hard to hear.
At 6.15 he left the stage and the last 45 minutes were crap imo.

He finished with the acoustic Burned With Desire, but that didn't do much to me, it was fun, but not EPIIIIC.

So to sum up:
Armins mixing quality: 10 (seriously, the mixing itself was great)
Armins track selection: 8 (It was 9 or 10 in 2008.)
Lasers: 6 (not used enough)
Sound Quality: 7.5 (fortunately not TOOOO loud, still loud though)
live singers: 6 (BT and Sophie Ellis Bextor weren't even there, Nadia Ali rocked)
Jaarbeurs: 10 (free toilets, close to hotels/train,bus and huge)

quote:

Originally posted by Voci Armins track selection: 8 (It was 9 or 10 in 2008.)

On a scale of 1 to 20 perhaps. What I've heard on the live feed was sooooooo boring.

quote:

Originally posted by eieregooie On a scale of 1 to 20 perhaps. What I've heard on the live feed was sooooooo boring.

I agree. This time I hadn't the magic sensation I felt in 2008

quote:

Originally posted by eieregooie On a scale of 1 to 20 perhaps. What I've heard on the live feed was sooooooo boring.

What did you expect then?

It was Mirage tracks + huge ASOT hits, both older and new. Little suprise, but if you go to Armin, I guess its what you'd expect.

As of yet I haven't even heard Mirage. What I expect tho, especially from long sets like this, is a story. A trip. I expect a proper build up. Tension, preferably with a few sub climaxes, eventually leading up to an epic finale.

Armin used to be able to do that. Perhaps he still can, but he sure didn't show it. So unfortunately, what I got was nothing like what I've come to expect. The show was lacking consistency or smth, like having your iPod on shuffle. I can do that myself tho, I don't need Armin to hit the shuffle switch for me.

I admit I haven't liked Armin Only much since it went large scale for the first time back in '05, so I stopped going. I'm sure one edition was better then the other, but rating this one 8 out of 10 musically? Sorry man, that's entirely beyond me

quote:

Originally posted by eieregooie As of yet I haven't even heard Mirage. What I expect tho, especially from long sets like this, is a story. A trip. I expect a proper build up. Tension, preferably with a few sub climaxes, eventually leading up to an epic finale. Armin used to be able to do that. Perhaps he still can, but he sure didn't show it. So unfortunately, what I got was nothing like what I've come to expect. The show was lacking consistency or smth, like having your iPod on shuffle. I can do that myself tho, I don't need Armin to hit the shuffle switch for me. I admit I haven't liked Armin Only much since it went large scale for the first time back in '05, so I stopped going. I'm sure one edition was better then the other, but rating this one 8 out of 10 musically? Sorry man, that's entirely beyond me

I personally thought the set had a good flow with a lot of energy from 00:30 till around 5:00. But I guess it depends on how you expect the party. I knew there were not going to be big suprises, and expected the ASOT hits, and the Mirage tracks, aswell as some Armin classics. They all were there, but because I expected them, I was able to enjoy them.
You are right when you'd visit the party with a different attitude. When you wanted Armin to take you on a trip, where he showed WHY he is a good DJ, then indeed, you might be frustrated and disappointed, because thats indeed not what Armin did.

But Armin is playing really 'safe' last years anyway But the tracks itself, I enjoyed most of them.

Well, he did meet my expectations (more or less), but that doesn't mean I thought it was any good

^ then you simply shoudn't have gone, lol

If you read what I said, you would've know I didn't

yeah I didn't know you were the same guy as in the reply above mine lol. My bad...

Anyway, being there live and listening at home will always be different anyway. I really don't care much about for example Armin's "Sail". But when you hear it out loud combined with the show elements, I must admit then for some reason Sail is quite nice after all.