Since last year, trance has seen a resurgence that has been years in the making. Sales and artist bookings are up, dedicated trance festivals are growing bigger, and new sub-genre sounds, like Psy Trance, are emerging. Helping lead the charge are trance legends who have returned to the genre after branching off to make more mainstream, progressive sounds- names like Sander van Doorn, W&W, Ferry Corsten’s Gouryella and Arty. Noticeably absent from this movement back to trance: probably one, if not, the best trance artists of all-time: Tiesto.
Before he became the house music playing, big room pumping, Grammy award-winning superstar he is today, Tijs Michiel Verwest, of the Netherlands, operated in the shadows as DJ Tiesto. Starting his career in the early 90s, Tiesto helped define the trance genre with his uplifting and progressive sounds, in addition to the creation of record labels like Black Hole Recordings and In Trance We Trust. Joining him in his early projects include fellow Dutchmen Ferry Corsten, who, along with Tiesto, created Gouryella, and Armin van Buuren, who Tiesto helped take Armin’s sound into the mainstream (look how well that has turned out!).
Tiesto’s debut solo studio album, In My Memory, released in 2001, saw this legend score some of his biggest career hits. Does Flight 643 and Lethal Industry ring a bell?
As trance in its entirety continued to grow, both of these tracks stood the test of time, having been remixed by plenty and featured in sets galore- even to this day. Who could forget when the legendary Markus Schulz dropped 643 at Bliss; Transcendence, here in Seattle, a few months ago?!
In My Memory took Tiesto’s career to new heights. He began to do global tours, including his USA debut in 2003, and lengthy solo sets- a concept that was new at the time. The idea of one DJ playing alone in front of a crowd of thousands? His groundbreaking “Tiesto in Concert” solo shows, in 2003, helped pave the way for DJs who aspire to do concerts in massive venues; He showed it could be done.
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