EVENT REVIEW: Paul van Dyk at Pacha Thursday February 9th, 2012
I’ve been a fan of Paul van Dyk for many years, and I haven’t been so excited to see a DJ perform like this for many years. I arrived at Pacha early because I wanted to avoid crowds and when I arrived it was surprisingly not as packed as I was expecting it to be, which was actually quite relieving. The vibe was absolutely perfect; Austin Leeds was opening for Paul getting the crowds ready with some great beats. I immediately began dancing and feeling this “family” vibe in the air because everyone was clearly anticipating PvD as much as I was. Looking over the ledge at the smiling faces below while grooving to the sounds of Austin Leeds got me ready to experience what was one of the best performances I have ever seen. What really made me feel great about this atmosphere was that everyone who was at Pacha was fan. PvD has been around so long now, so all of us who came out on a Thursday night have a tremendous respect for him and as 1 O’clock came around he definitely arrived just as expected.
Paul was very punctual, starting his set exactly at 1 am. Throughout the entire night PvD took all of us on a ride that we will never forget. I was astonished at his set up; he had two laptops hooked up, two keyboards and a mixer. I remember thinking to myself, wow this is going to be a hell of a set, and that it was. The fact that PvD played his entire set live, made my respect for him grow that much more. I have heard so many great stories about his sets in the past, and for me to first-hand experience and witness each step of his process makes me understand why he has been around for so long. The energy that man brings to his fans surpasses many of the great DJ’s I have seen before. He becomes completely alive with his music, it almost felt like all of us in the room were completely in sync with every song he played. He gave all of us fans a blast from the past playing his classic “For An Angel” and then fast forwarded to the present with “We Come Together”.
It was no surprise that he also played “New York City”, which was more than appropriate given where he was. One thing that caught a lot of us by surprise was a little taste of Dubstep, something that I was definitely not expecting. It was very clever though, due to the fact that Dubstep has become huge in the EDM scene, and in New York. Then he went back to Trance, and blowing all of our minds with the amazing talent he possesses as DJ and producer. I remember looking down at my phone and it being 4:15, and he was not finished. The high energy from PvD remained consistent throughout the night, and it made me not even realize how much time had really passed.
As 4:30 rolled around James Gill was getting ready to finish the night out. Once PvD ended his set, the entire room (including myself) was screaming “Paul Van Dyk” repeatedly, it was unreal. No one wanted him to finish, and he gave every one a run for our money giving us all he’s got. James Gill did a great job closing out the night with some classic Trance. The last song played happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time “Sound of Goodbye”, by Perpetuous Dreamer, an alias of the great Armin van Buuren. If you have not had the chance to see PvD perform live, you are missing out greatly. Musically and performance-wise he definitely proves his skills, and there is no doubt in my mind that Paul is going to remain a serious presence in the trance world for years to come.
Review by Rebecca Thornton
Photos by Shant Dosttur for ElectronicNightLife.com
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Posted by Zaneta Ortiz at 2/14/2012 9:16 PM 
Categories: Pacha, DJ, Dates, Review, Trance, Events
Tags: Pacha Paul van Dyk Trance Evolution Event Review
Categories: Pacha, DJ, Dates, Review, Trance, Events
Tags: Pacha Paul van Dyk Trance Evolution Event Review
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