best clubbing experience outside of WMC
I would have to agree with pretty much everything that's been said about that night. I went in not expecting much, but this turned out to be a very memorable show.
The first hour was basically CD1 of ASOT 2006 and the second was pretty much CD2. But he went on for 2.5 more hours! And that's when he was at his best, pulling out great new tracks and old ones (with the exception of that string of SvD productions of course ) while keeping the energy really high--no room for boredom in that set.
I was told that he would play for about 3 hours, so just before that mark, I asked him about playing my tune of 2006 for the encore. He looked at me and shrugged/nodded in a way that meant "uh sure, maybe," so I added a "pleaaaaase" 
An hour and a half later, he stops the last track of his mix and the crowd asks for one more. He slams PLAY and out comes Arisen I immediately yell thank you at him (he responds with a grin), and jump onto the dancefloor after the intro is over to be part of the crowd going nuts. I return backstage for the outro, and since Armin has left the decks with people following him, I briefly end up alone in the middle of the stage in front of the crowd (Hopefully there is no video of that )
This was at least my fifth time seeing Armin live in the last 2 years and, personal nostalgia for 2005 October 8 aside, it was by far his best performance; the complete opposite of WMC 2006 at Space. I have never seen him enjoying himself so much, being so gracious with fans (signing, posing, and talking non-stop), and having so much musical inspiration (you could see just how focused he was when going through his CD wallet to select tracks). And coming from such a critic and cynic as myself, this is saying a lot!
I think that, like Tiësto, Armin needs more than 3 hours to be really good. With only 2 hours, forget it...
For sure a night I'm not about to forget; totally worth a second trip to SF in 48 hours Many thanks to RobertN, Bob M, and the Spundae and Skills crew for making it all possible 
And I still haven't met any of the SFTAs 
Last edited by philippe on Jul-09-2006 at 13:34
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