San Bernardino, Calif. – TranceGiving anyone?
Indeed, on the weekend following America’s Turkey Day, more than 20,000 trance fans packed San Bernardino’s NOS Events Center for the third-annual Dreamstate festival. Produced by Insomniac this past Nov. 24-25, Dreamstate featured DJ sets and live performances from many of trance music’s biggest stars, eliciting ecstatic reactions from the genre’s ultra-loyal fanbase
Ivan Meneses
On Friday, Dreamstaters enjoyed uplifting performances from faves like Paul van Dyk (AEON live set), ATB, Paul Oakenfold, Andrew Rayel, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Ben Gold, David Gravell and Giuseppe Ottaviani. Then the next evening, notable acts like Ørjan Nilsen, MarLo, Khoma, Liquid Soul, Marco V, Mauro Picotto and Kristina Sky delivered sets that lit up the venue.
Jake West
Also, trance titan Armin van Buuren performed each night – a live Gaia set (with collaborator Benno de Goeij) on Saturday and a solo set on Sunday – packing The Dream Stage tent both evenings with wildly enthusiastic fans. Delivering gorgeous melodies, whooshing synths, crunching beats and familiar singalongs (like van Buuren’s “This Is What It Feels Like” and Rayel’s “One in a Million”), Dream Stage sets were animated by piercing lasers and effect lights pulsating through thick banks of fog and haze. Additionally, dancers in futuristic costumes periodically performed synchronized routines on the elevated stage.
Jake West
The festival grounds were filled with Trance Family members, all-in on the genre cornucopia – totems raised, flags unfurled, hands in the air. With sets on four stages running from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. each evening, fans enjoyed 18 hours of pure trance. Additionally, branded Insomniac afterhours parties – like Andrew Rayel and Kristina Sky at Hollywood’s Create nightclub – kept Los Angeles-based trance fans rocking late into the evening.
Jake West
