Tiësto - born Tijs Verwest was born in the Netherlands in 1969. He started DJing in high school parties, until he became a resident at a few local clubs in the Netherlands. in 1994 his career exploded when he met Arny Bink, whom he would later start their now explosive label, Black Hole Recordings. Some of his greatest creations have included the In Search of Sunrise, and The Elements of Life series. In 2010, Tiësto toured on his Kaleidoscope World Tour, stopping at over 175 Dates, 6 Continents, and reached to over 1 Million fans. The tour lasted 15 months and earned him a stop on the Breaking Billboard’s Top 25 Tours of 2010, earning him an estimated $28.6 Million in revenue.
Growing up, I’ve always had a special place for trance, and house music, as it was some of the most popular electronic music in the mid 90′s. I remember raving out to some hardcore psychedelic trance tracks, and really getting a feel for the bass music phenomenon, that now breaches one of the largest music sectors on the planet. His stop in Kelowna was nothing short of exciting for me! I spent a few years with Tiësto tracks in my tape decks, cd players, then into my mp3 players… you can tell he has spanned an entire generation of musical players!
I showed up for the sound check, and to pick up my media pass, and I got even more excited when I seen the rows and rows of sound equipment, and two giant screens for visuals. The lighting was also being tested and I must say, I have never been more impressed in all my days at concerts, and events. WOW! I knew Tiësto has played in front of crowds spanning 250,000, so our local hockey arena paled in comparison, yet gave it a more intimate feel to the arena show.
Show time!
The doors opened at 5, and a pair of local DJ’s opened up; Code E, and Eezy. They brought some warm electro house tunes in, and started to crank up the crowd. The next set was none other then 3 of the top Dubstep producer/DJ’s in the world; Excision, Datsik, and Downlink, also local to Kelowna, BC. They cranked up the darkside and ripped out a new A-Hole in the side of Prospera Place. The crowd went absolutely nuts as their hometown dub crew smashed out hit after hit. I must say, seeing all three perform at the same time, in the same place was pretty @#%ing cool!! Hardwell warmed up the decks for Tiësto, playing some wicked house beats, one after another! Now on the main stage, all the lighting was in effect, and the stereo was almost at full….. As I toured around the venue, capturing different angles, and scouting for the best vantage points, I got to really see the effects of the lasers, and massive light setup. It was incredibly blinding at some points! Almost too much to a certain degree, when those lasers seems to beam directly into my eyes, I had to turn my head away, but like a train wreck, I had to watch…. even if it hurt! I can’t stress enough the sound quality though, incredibly crisp, and ridiculously loud!! If I could live in any one place, it would be a sub woofer. Paradise!
When Tiësto came on stage, the crowd went absolutely berserk. It was time to crank up the volume, and turn up the lights!!!!! Full power EVERYTHING!!! We had 20 minutes in the pit for shots up close, so all the photographers were scavenging like crazy to get their shot! The bass was so intense, a few of the photographers were completely discombobulated and I could tell, not happy campers! Then there was me,
and the others; in heaven. The combination of godly music, and heavenly bass was almost too much to bear, I wasn’t sure if I had died, or was living a dream! Yep, I love my job!!! Overall if I had to score the concert, I would give it a 9/10. I don’t think they sold out, but it was nearly full by the time Tiësto was on. I would definitely recommend seeing Tiësto live!!! There is a reason (maybe ten…) why he is the worldest largest DJ and producer!
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