Page 20 - Zone Magazine Issue 011

festival review [netherlands]
Luminosity Beach Festival
Whoever utters the words 'Trance is Dead,' has obviously never experienced the atmosphere and thrill of Luminosity Beach Festival. The annual festival which this year celebrated its 9th consecutive term, has come a long way since its inception in 2008. The event which began its journey as a 2 day event hosting 20 DJ's, has since grown and evolved to become a 3 day event with 55 DJ's, while still staying true to its original concept of sun, sea, beach and trance.
The festival commenced on Friday the 24th of June, with a set from Romanian export Bogdan Cupcea, more widely known as Suncatcher. As the crowd slowly infiltrated the Mainstage, Bogdan wasted no time and kicked his set off with Ferry Corstens remix of Lost by Gareth Emery featuring the captivating vocals of Northern Irelands very own Janet Devlin. This was followed by a set full of euphoric and uplifting sounds that perfectly set the scene for what was to follow over the next three days of the festival. Meanwhile in Area 2, Re:Locate VS Robert Nickson, despite some early hiccups produced a flawless live show, which included live renditions of some of their biggest tracks along with some live remixes and mashups for equal measure.
All in all, Friday was an overwhelming success with amazing performances from The Thrillseekers, Sean Tyas, Allan Morrow and Menno de Jong just to name a few. But the standout display came from man of the moment and Glaswegian trance hero, Will Atkinson. As he slowly teased the crowd with a blend of techno and uplifting vocal trance, he dropped arguably one of the most diverse tracks of the past few years and possibly one of Wills best tracks to date, Pat Butcher. The crowd erupted into chants of “Here we, here we, here we fucking go” as the intensity within the arena elevated to another level. A special mention also has to be given to rising star Shugz, who recently was hailed by non other than John O'Callaghan as a “Future Talent.” Shugz had the honor of closing Area 3 and did so in thrilling fashion bringing the opening day of the festival to a close.
Saturday began very chilled with some mellow progressive offerings from Orkidea and Rex Mundi, which was slightly refreshing to hear and acted as a nice opener to what Saturday
had to offer later in the day. Orkidea paved the way for Airwave who stood up to the plate with a very versatile set full of hands in the air moments, fused with some energetic elements too. Meanwhile on the mainstage, Sied Van Riel began his set with the heavily supported Davey Asprey rework of the classic Filterheadz track Yimana. On the second Mainstage was Daniel Kandi, where fans got to take part in the ever popular “Sit Down Jump Up” during the breakdown of his exclusive remix of Above & Beyond – Sun in Your Eyes. Simon O'Shine kept the crowd on their feet with some classic fan favorites such as Ferry Corstens remix of Invisible Touch, as they ducked in and out to watch coverage of the European Championships which was being shown in the bar area. On the mainstage, fans got to witness what could be described as the Holy Trinity of modern trance, in the shape of John Askew, John O'Callaghan and Bryan Kearney who played one after another .
John Askew provided his usual banging tech trance sound, including a new rework by him of The Prodigy – Voodoo People and his brand new original monster Chop Salad. John O'Callaghan as usual did not disappoint and played one of the most fitting tracks of the festival as the sun went down. The swelling pads and familiar vocals of the Hughes & Ballentine rework of the timeless classic Follow Me by Lange Feat The Morrighan, filled the air as the sun came to rest over the ocean outside the mainstage. Next up was Bryan Kearney. Bryan has become one of the figureheads for energetic and uplifting trance as of late and his set was a perfect example of the sound trance fans of today have grown to love. Bryan played an extra half an hour of pure classic trance which gave fans a taste of what was to come on Sunday.
Sunday was a day predominantly filled with DJ's playing trance classic sets on the Mainstage. Acts like Jam El Mar, Binary Finary, Judge Jules, Eddie Halliwell and Paul Van Dyk all featured on the mainstage. Temple One, Sam Jones, Sneijder and Vini Vici provided fans with their dose of modern uplifting and driving trance in the second area. Sunday was a day that catered to every trance fan, from the die hard 90's trance loving crew, right up to the hard hitting psy trance lovers, there was something for everybody to feast their ears upon. Sunday was an extra special day for trance fans, as it saw the return of Paul Van Dyk after his short break from the scene, following an accident
earlier in the year. Jam El Mar, one half of 90's powerhouse act Jam & Spoon kickstarted the action and even played the popular Jam & Spoon track Follow Me, which funnily enough was originally released as a B Side, but nonetheless became an instant classic.
Meanwhile in Area 2, some of the young guns in the shape of Sam Jones and James Dymond put on an outstanding display, both producing well rounded sets. As Kai Tracids Hard Trance set full of pounding kick drums and squelching 303's came to a close, Judge Jules made his way to the stage. Jules played anthem after anthem including Strange World, Storm and Lizard, before scratch maestro Eddie Halliwell stepped up to provide what can only be described as a classic BOSH set. Eddie produced a flawless set with live FX and scratching, reminiscent of the classic Eddie Halliwell of 10-15 years ago. Next up was Paul Van Dyk who received a warm welcome from cheering fans holding up “Welcome Back Paul Van Dyk” signs. Needless to say Paul did not disappoint and had the crowd cheering from start to finish. Indecent Noise closed the stage and the festival with a Hard Trance set, that gave festival goers a much needed surge of energy after a long weekend of dancing to some of the best trance acts of the past, present and quite possibly the future.
2017 is set to be the biggest year yet for The Luminosity crew, with an extra day added bringing the festival to a total of 4 days of non stop trance. In addition to this, if you thought the festival couldn't get any bigger than that, you'd be wrong. Luminosity Beach Festival 2017 will also feature an additional stage along with even more DJ's to perform ,which guarantees the tenth anniversary of the festival will be the craziest trance event of the year. Tickets for next years installment are already selling fast so head over to luminosity events for more information.
Connect: http://luminosity-events.nl
Words By Daneil Daly Pics By Alan Donaldson
20 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE