Trance is a feeling without boundaries: this is what Armin van Buuren and his team wanted to shout in Rotterdam last weekend
The new dimension of A State Of Trance is showing all the possible sides of the definition of trance at a wider range: this year too, we were in Rotterdam and we had the opportunity to appreciate and enjoy as much as possible that was offered by the experience of the A State Of Trance festival that was held for the second year in a row at Ahoy Rotterdam, which is now definitively the new home for lovers of world trance.
TRANSFORMATION is the theme of this edition, as we know, and this theme has largely respected what have been the characteristics of the festival: the transformation of the trance genre that embraces old and new sounds, in an attempt to give life to a single musical world, and that is what happened at Ahoy Rotterdam on the two nights of February 21st and 22nd.
Our primary impression, looking back over the past Dutch weekend, was to see a connection or a sort of “passage” from the previous edition to new edition of the festival in the colors, layout and how Ahoy was set up to welcome the tens of thousands of visitors from every corner of the world: the mainstage, called Area I for the event, was very similar to last year’s, with a minimal but eye-catching design and with a long VIP deck that, like last year’s edition, embraced the stage from behind; long and thin ledwalls at the top and sides of the stage, projected the colors of the event’s theme: green, blue and purple … yes, they really look like our colors indeed !
Last year, Area II corresponded to a stage that this year remained closed for a concomitant sporting event: consequently, the second largest area of the event was moved to the famous Arena (which last year hosted Area III): also in this area, an elevated area was mounted on both sides of the stage and, behind the stage, there was the same layout as last year in the Arena: a giant and fascinating rotating parallelepiped, probably among the most photographed things of the entire event.
The remaining areas, reserved exclusively for Saturday 22nd, were each set up differently: the Area IIIII, perhaps the most “narrow” (and perhaps not up to the level of the guests who played there) characterized by a gallery of lights at the top; the Area III, similar to last year’s IIII Area, characterized by a stage surrounded by scaffolding and small ledwalls and the IIII, undoubtedly among the most beautiful things seen at this festival: there were containers that made up the stage, one of which, at the top, seemed suspended, with a long horizontal strip of leds that cut across the stage, amazing !
So, let’s get to the music: but to talk about the music of this festival, we must first bring to the center what was the speech of Armin van Buuren and the guests, SUPERSTRINGS and Agents Of Time, present at one of the events held at the Mainport Hotel in Rotterdam on Saturday afternoon, “Transformation in the trance music industry”, in which Trance History participated.
The main theme of the meeting at the event was: it doesn’t matter how it sounds, it doesn’t matter the bpm, the important thing is that it generates a feeling of trance and in fact there were all the possible facets of the trance genre, from the melodic and progressive music of Agents Of Time to the classic trance sound of SUPERSTRINGS up to all the possible worlds that the king of A State Of Trance Armin van Buuren has created in these over twenty-five years of career.
This meant that, even in a festival undoubtedly characterized by the presence, especially on the mainstage, of artists cleary techno, there was the possibility of choosing to listen to your favorite musical style or styles, ranging across the different areas within Ahoy.
We therefore moved from the incredible new sound of Ferry Corsten and Ruben de Ronde (with an exceptional B2B on Friday 21st) to the classic uplifting sound of Aly & Fila, with a truly exciting set in Area II: the same triad of B2Bs proposed by Armin van Buuren with ARTBAT, Ben Hemsley and the awaited FACE 2 FACE with Maddix proposed separately every style of trance, from progressive to classic trance sound up to the match between trance and techno.
It’s always difficult to get to hear all your favourite artists at these events, because they often play at the same time in different areas: although they are all worthy of attention Armin van Buuren, of course, Agents Of Time and then Eli Brown and the legendary B2B btw Armin and Andrew Bayer and at the same time Farius, Nifra, Ruben de Ronde again, Giuseppe Ottaviani and also SØNIN and Ciaran McAuley set the Saturday evening alight, which ended with an exciting classic set by SUPERSTRINGS in the mainstage, in the meantime that Hel:sløwed were setting Area IIII on fire with their set.
The impression of what we both saw and heard this weekend was that of an event that wanted to transport the audience to a new idea of trance and that at the same time was a transition from the idea of a new home, last year, with the DESTINATION event, and what will be the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of A State Of Trance in 2026. By the way: you can already register ASOT 2026.
All DJ sets of Area I and II will be available in the next few days on Youtube.