Whether you’re one of the blessed few who get to attend Above and Beyond’s Group Therapy 100 performance in Madison Square Garden or will be watching from home like the rest of us there is so much to be excited about for the performance. Vancouver BC fans will have the good fortune of getting a taste of it a week before when they play at the Pacific Coliseum, and Ryan Hayes of Blueprint was lucky enough to get to pick the brain of Above and Beyond’s Jono Grant about the whole thing.
One of the most beautiful things about Above and Beyond is their music is timeless. Whether the glorious acoustic version we’ve been treated to or the deliciousness of hearing Sun and Moon live at the Gorge, they are not a group that is easy to dismiss. Jono shared that part of that stems from having the confidence to play music they can stand behind. Sure there are plenty of DJs that play what’s popular on Beatport, what sets A&B apart is the fact that when you go to one of their shows you know what they’ll give you, along with a few surprises.
“We aren’t going to stand in front of a crowd and play something we don’t believe in.”
There are plenty of places to hear the biggest big room tracks, Above and Beyond shines in their unique trance sound. There’s a reason they continue to sell out shows all over the world, and that reason is the beautiful manner in which they capture the attention of an entire crowd. This happens weekly in the famed Group Therapy podcasts, and for the first time we’ll be able to get the full experience without having to be present. They’ve announced that there will be a live video cast, and along with that will be stunning new visuals. Technology is getting better and better, and along with beautiful new ways to make sounds we are also seeing new and exciting ways to make what we hear just as stimulating to our eyes.
Jono was tight-lipped about just what that would look like, but we can only imagine it will be epic. Speaking of beautiful new sounds, he also indicated that there will be some new auditory treasures in the very special ABGT100 show. 100 episodes of a radio show is a big milestone, and selling out Madison Square Garden for that radio show only speaks to the magnitude of what they’ve been able to accomplish. They plan to celebrate in a big way, all we can do is speculate and wait to see just what that will look like.
It’s clear that they put a great amount of love and passion into everything they do, their make-up show for the tragic weather delay they faced on New Years Eve 2014 in Seattle clearly showed that. We can’t wait to see what Above and Beyond do with this next chapter. Are you one of the lucky souls who will get to experience Above and Beyond Group Therapy in person? Let us know what it’s like while you’re there, we may feature what you share on our page!
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