The first and biggest event of the world tour celebrating a quarter century of Armin van Buuren’s radio show truly moved us: here’s what we experienced
Next May, Armin van Buuren will celebrate 25 years of his radio show, which marked a turning point in the history of trance music. It had been clear for quite some time, well before the official announcement, that this year’s edition of A State of Trance, titled ELEVATION, would be dedicated to this anniversary, and the anticipation was truly palpable.
Once again this year, we had the privilege of experiencing the event in the Netherlands, at its definitive home, Ahoy Rotterdam, which has hosted the festival since 2024, following eight years at Jaarbeurs Utrecht and three in Den Bosch.
As a celebratory edition, the festival followed the style of the Episode 1000 celebrations of the radio show and so it did: as Armin himself explained in an interview with Ruben de Ronde, the celebration carried a touch of innovation, leaving room for the influences of emerging artists, making the experience feel fresh while still nostalgic.
The festival took place, as usual, over the weekend, Friday, 27 February and Saturday, 28 February 2026: the first day showcased nostalgic trance, while the second followed the classic A State of Trance format.
Design and Setup of the Stages
With this edition, it became clear that the concept of annually changing layouts has been abandoned: Since moving to Ahoy, the festival has adopted a permanent structure. The only exception was the DESTINATION 2024 edition, which included a larger hall, Area II. This year, the arena, corresponding to last year’s Area II, was slightly expanded, allowing for a larger capacity and preventing early stage closures, while retaining the striking rotating container LED wall.
The other three stages remained identical to last year: a arc of dazzling lights in Area IIIII, the scaffolding structure in Area III an the container stage in Area IIII. On a personal note: considering the quality of the lineup, slightly larger spaces might have been preferable, as the areas filled up quickly, sometimes making it difficult to get close to the stages or fully enjoy the show. However, this did not diminish the audience’s energy or emotion.
On the Mainstage, Area I, the VIP deck surrounding the stage remained, though with a renewed layout: a cube-shaped LED wall above the stage and additional side LED walls, framed by suspended illuminated pillars reminiscent of the Mainstage setup from the 2023 REFLEXION edition: a true visual spectacle that immediately captured attention.
The placement of artists across the stages clearly reflected the festival’s renewed concept: giving visibility to emerging names within the trance scene: on Saturday, the Mainstage primarily hosted rising artists in trance and progressive, such as JOA, Korolova and Benwal, creating a perfect blend of innovation and passion for trance music.
Also this year, it was difficult to make a choice among the 55 DJ sets on the lineup, but based on what we’ve seen recently and our own curiosities, we tried to carve out a path:
Friday Night
The 25th anniversary was celebrated with truly emotional performances for lovers of classic trance during the Friday: across almost all three stages open that evening, Areas I, II and III artists delivered historic trance music.
On the Mainstage, Ruben de Ronde opened with a set of progressive and trance classics, some reinterpreted in a modern key: In Area II, Superstrings delivered an hour of refined trance from the late ’90s and early 2000s, including tracks such as Primer – Everlast and Breeder – The Chain (Babealicious Mix): purely emotional moments that genuinely moved us.
The middle part of the evening truly tested our choices: the exclusive B2B between Armin van Buuren and Deep Dish opened with a stunning progressive/vocal trance track that appears to be an unreleased collaboration, followed by remixes of historic trance and techno tracks, creating a unique and surprising moment.
In Area III, NRG2000, Ruben de Ronde’s alias, alternated classic trance with more recent productions, delivering spectacular trance. Shortly afterward, following a brief and intense chat, we were delighted to see an icon of Italian trance step on stage: a joyful Mauro Picotto had us jumping with his reworked techno/trance classics, creating a truly nostalgic atmosphere: Grazie, Mauro!
The special 25 Years DJ set of Armin in the Mainstage opened with a brand-new version of Tuvan by Gaia, remixed by BLR: throughout the set, Armin van Buuren masterfully blended timeless trance classics with a fresh, modern edge, introducing new and unreleased remixes that elevated the originals without losing their soul. The result was a journey that felt deeply nostalgic yet never predictable, exactly as he had promised.
The evening concluded with one final stop at Area II, allowing us to fully embrace the pure, no-frills uplifting sound of John O’Callaghan.
Saturday Night
Saturday officially began with the opening of Areas IIII and IIIII, which had been closed on Friday. Our journey started at 21:00 in Area IIII with Kyau & Albert: it was our first time seeing them live, and we immediately felt a deeply nostalgic crowd, including many who had grown up with the German duo since their early days.
There was strong anticipation, however, to see a producer who has rapidly climbed the ranks within the trance scene in recent months: the enigmatic Ginchy, who in Area II delivered a powerful and refined progressive trance set, fully aligned with the quality of his recent productions.
In Area IIIII, Amber Revival opened their performance with tracks from their repertoire alongside new material, energizing the crowd together with various guests: BLR, co-producer of several tracks with Arie and Netta, Hel:sløwed and UUFO: an extremely engaging set, though we had no doubts about that.
Area II probably drew the most attention overall: we entered while Giuseppe Ottaviani, with his OTTAGON alias already a standout the previous evening, was performing live with eight keyboards, delivering a powerful and captivating set that completely conquered the crowd.
Curiosity was especially high for the new era of Cosmic Gate, represented by Nic’s solo set, following Bossi’s exit from the project after 27 years, announced just days earlier. The news was received with emotion and enthusiasm by the audience, including many fans who wanted to support this new chapter while honoring the history of Cosmic Gate with a unique flash mob, featuring dozens of signs raised throughout the crowd: at that moment, the area reached full capacity, clear proof of the strong interest in the performance. The set featured tracks from their latest album Perspectives, blending progressive and melodic house elements alongside some of their iconic tracks from recent years.
We then moved to the Mainstage for Armin’s moment: a one-and-a-half-hour solo performance. He opened with the event’s anthem, Always You created together with Richard Durand and Dicosis. What continues to amaze is his extraordinary ability to lead the audience into a powerful and exhilarating collective experience. Some new vocal trance tracks at the beginning sparked great curiosity, before the set evolved into a more classic and distinctly tech-trance finale.
As dawn approached, after a quick food pit-stop, it was time to head to Area IIII for an uplifting energy boost from the live performance of American artist Sean Tyas. In the same uplifting spirit, one of the key artists of this edition, Richard Durand, later set Area II ablaze with a truly massive trance set.
The ideas that emerged from this year’s experience are essentially twofold: a sense of “closing the circle” of the current festival format, which began with the 2023 REFLEXION edition and continued at Ahoy with DESTINATION, then TRANSFORMATION, and now ELEVATION; and a renewed, though never truly asleep, desire to make trance music that reconnects with the genre’s sense of purity: some returns from last year and a rediscovery of trance beyond the club niche we know so well suggest a growing ambition to expand the trance sound beyond its traditional boundaries with greater consistency. As already announced by Armin van Buuren, the Ibiza nights scheduled at UNVRS at the end of next summer will be dedicated to celebrating the 25th anniversary of the radio show.
In any case, pre-registrations for the 2027 edition of the event in Rotterdam have already opened.