On April 9, 2011 Armin van Buuren made history by throwing an event so big in Den Bosch, Holland that we went to space and back again. Okay, maybe not as far as space but if you were there, you would know exactly what I mean.

Armin van Buuren, who is widely known for his ‘A State of Trance’ radio shows broadcasted in 26 countries for 10 years strong. He held his massive celebration in the Brabanthallen in Dutch city, Den Bosch. The Brabanthallen is known to hold large tradeshows and events and will be known this year to hold one of the largest trance events worldwide. 40 DJ’s were put in five stages identified by colours; blue, green, yellow, orange and red.

We witnessed Armin broadcasting ‘A State of Trance 500’ in a booth right in front of the place as we arrived to the main stage, which was called A State of Blue, and it was massive. There were concession stands that were lined up on both sides of the Blue arena serving drinks and food. Huge Screens displayed visuals that were so bright that you couldn’t look directly at it for a long period of time.  

Mat Zo started the night followed by five additional DJ’s that would played throughout the course of the night including Arty, Markus Schulz, Above & Beyond, Armin Van Buuren, Gareth Emery, and W&W to finish off the night. Mat Zo did a wonderful job opening with tracks like ‘Kyau & Albert – Be There 4 U’ and his own track ‘Back in Time’ which is a huge hit because the beat is really hard.

The next stage was A State of Green, which had big names performing in the following order: Ashley Wallbridge, Arnej, Andy Moor, Paul Oakenfold, Cosmic Gate, Aly & Fila, John O’Callaghan, Roger Shah and Sean Tyas. The Green area has the second biggest stage of the event. The DJ Booth was squared and mounted with four LCD screens on top of the booth. Green lasers were everywhere, as expected being the GREEN stage. In my opinion, the only problem of the stage was a grill that was around the DJ booth, making it hard to see the DJ’s face. The performance of the night in the Green stage in my opinion was definitely Sean Tyas, who was the last act and he killed it.

Later in the night we checked out the other stages. DJ ECO was first up in the Yellow stage. He really brought it to the people, so much that people chanted his name out. People loved his performance and in the middle of his act, he even sported our ‘In Trance We Trust’ American flag where he draped over his shoulders. You can tell he was really happy to see something from home. We also checked out the Red stage, where Sophie Sugar was playing and she really surprised us doing such a great job with her set. Everyone was cheering her on and from looking up at the DJ booth she was smiling the whole time she was playing. Last but not least, the Orange stage which was the smallest stage of the event. Still packed, there was a lot of trancer’s party hardy-ing if there was such a word. The DJs who really stuck in my head for the Orange stage would definitely be Orjan Nilsen, Max Graham, and Ben Gold, who all were spectacular.     

The main act that everyone was waiting for was definitely Armin van Buuren. Even though he wasn’t the main act of the Blue stage, it was surely the best Armin set I ever heard. The place went black and then lit up with blue and hot pink lights. We then heard an announcement from an epic deep voice announcing the ASOT500 event and what was to come. All of a sudden fireworks went off, that’s right, fireworks went off and all sorts of LCD screens went off with bright visuals of epic proportions, more fireworks and then a row of blue lights to show us where Armin would be. Armin van Buuren sent chills down our backs and before we knew it, we were in A State of Trance.

10 hours of music, 40 DJ’s in one massive place. My question to my trance family is how many tracks all added together do you think were played? I don’t know but the number is up there. The night was amazing, it was epic, it was unbelievable, and it was all those happy feelings all wrapped up in one bundle. It was the best event I have ever gone to, and I travel a lot. I was happy throughout the whole night. The crowd was friendly and everybody was having the best time of their lives. No drama, just music. That’s how it’s supposed to be, right? This was one of the best events that were thrown; too bad it only happens overseas.  I just want to thank Armin and all the DJ’s that made it happen for ASOT 500

Photos of the event:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1940548643531.119270.1536875514
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1940591124593.119271.1536875514

Written By: Chuck Kwok & Jennifer Arango
Edited by: Zaneta Ortiz www.electronicnightlife.com
Photo Credit: Chuck Kwok for ElectronicNightLife.com & Mr.Spencer.com