The Legendary DJ Tiesto
Written by Bide Akande
If you’re into Electronica, chances are that you’ve heard of the legendary Dutch DJ known as Tiësto. During his long career, his name has become synonymous with House music and for good reason: this man throws down. Period.
Enter the Master
Tiësto is just one of those artists who has truly mastered his craft. When you think of guitar, you think Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townsend. When you think of Trance, you should be thinking Tiësto. For being a world-wide phenomenon, you may find it surprising that I didn’t hear about Tiësto until only a month ago. Despite my inexperience with house music, Tiësto’s music and YouTube videos seemed pretty legit, so I decided to check out what all the hype was about.
The Best $80 Dollars I’ve Ever Spent
The Knollfest crew was fortunate enough to attend his rave at Chicago’s Congress Theater this past Halloween night. The show was sold out to a crowd of neon lit, costumed hipsters ready to get their freak on…none were disappointed. When Tiësto finally came on stage around 11:15, the entire theater erupted into chants of “Tiësto, Tiësto, Tiësto!” A particle movie screen behind the stage suddenly burst with images of orbiting planets and other spacey imagery until somehow coming together to form the face of the legendary DJ: who suddenly appeared at his turntables from out of thin air. This is when shit really got crazy.
Let’s Just Say, it’s Called Trance Music for a Reason
Beginning with tracks from his latest album, Kaleidoscope, the energy was unlike anything I have ever seen or experienced. Immediately, the entire crowd entered into a funky disco-utopian trance while the particle screen portrayed the most unique and trippy imagery I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. Tiësto possessed his audience with some kind of spectral, otherworldly power, causing us to rage uncontrollably as we looked unto our DJ god: worshiping him and humbling ourselves in his presence…we were not worthy.
Yet, all good things must come to an end. Tiësto made damn well sure that the end would come on his own terms. Thanks to the amazing-ness that is daylight savings time, Tiësto kept us bumping, thumping, and humping until 4 AM in the morning: which is 3 AM now that the clocks have been changed. By the time of the party’s miraculous commencement, we the audience were left in a daze asking ourselves, “What the !@#% just happened?” I don’t know if I will ever truly understand what happened. All I can say is, it felt like sex. The best kind of sex.
You think I’m joking? Check out this video; this how Tiësto parties.
