Armada Night at Amsterdam Dance Event took place on Wednesday 15th of October at the well known Heineken Music Hall and was organised by Alda Events. It featured spectacular performances by Armin van Buuren, Dash Berlin, the special — first time in Europe — LIVE set from GAIA, and sets from Andrew Rayel, Cosmic Gate, Orjan Nilsen, Tube & Berger, KRONO, MaRLo and Kevin Duane. The venue was packed from very early and the crowd was prepared to trance the night away. The stage was ultra large with gigantic screens and superb lighting effects and lazers. It definitely manage to create a very special sacred atmosphere and put the crowd in a state of trance.
When I arrived in the venue Nic Chagall, one half of Cosmic Gate was on the stage delivering the energetic prime time banging progressive sound that we always expect from them, Powerful basslines, chunky grooves, memorable synthy hooks and emotional vocals that will be extremely hard to forget. The crowd was responding warm heartily in his well conceived dj set which included all their well known club anthems. Cosmic Gate are always on high standards and their German perfection shined at Armada Night at ADE.
Next on tonight's schedule was the first ever European performance of the dj duo Gaia. We all know that Gaia is a side project of Armin van Buuren but until now the Gaia performances surrounded by mystery as Gaia appear on stage with covered heads by wearing their very strange costumes that recall Renaissance period and monks from that period. Their live performance included all the well known brilliant trance anthems such as J'ai Envie De Toi, Empire of Hearts, Humming The Lights and many more that were supported by stunning visual effects that manage instantly to transfer the Armada Night crowd to another place and time that maybe is in the past or maybe is in the very far away future.
Gaia was all about epic melodies, heavy drums, punchy basslines and mythical music themes with orchestral classical music influences. If trance is a journey Gaia performance manage exactly to accomplish that both in visual and sonic levels. The first ever European performance of Gaia was mindblowing and shivers were running from head to toe. Lets hope that Gaia will perform again at the A State Of Trance Festival in Utrecht in February 2015.
Dash Berlin is considered to be one of the biggest star djs from the Netherlands performing for the first time at Amsterdam Dance Event. His well known for his sing a long anthems, Hollywood style music videos and explosive live performances. Also Dash Berlin was one of the dj who was chosen from the National Post of Netherlands and before his Armada Night dj set was a powerful show that started with a magnificent breathtaking intro video. Dash Berlin was one of the four Dutch djs that the National Post Service of Netherlands choose for the ever stamps devoted to djs. The other 3 are Armin van Buuren, Hardwell and Afrojack and the stamps were officially first time presented during ADE at ADE X SAMSUNG HOME, Rembrandtplein in Amsterdam.
Dash Berlin performances are outstanding and his dj set at Armada Night was packed with his well known emotional vocal anthems that include collaborations with fantastic singers, uplifting euphoric synths and banging aggressive basslines that you can not resist and you are obliged to clap your hands with him and start jumping along. Dash Berlin is very energetic behind the decks and he even asked W&W to come on stage and present themselves to the crowd that went ballistic when they saw them climbing up in the stage and start waving their hands along their massive anthem BIGFOOT. Dash Berlin with this performance opened up our hunger for his performance on Saturday at the Amsterdam Music Festival at the prestigious Amsterdam Arena.
The absolute highlight on th night except the Gaia performance was Armin van Buuren who always performs at Armada Nights during ADE. His show included all his current anthems including the exceptional Sound of Drums with the mesmerising vocals by Laura Jansen who actually appear in the screens behind of Armin performing the track that was played on the fascinating Bobina remix. Hystereo, Save My Night and his playful worldwide smash Ping Pong were also included in the set. It is worth mentioning that the crowd was eagerly waiting Armin to drop Ping Pong and everybody knew perhaps from the videos of his performances of how to follow Armin hand movements as they were waiving their hands according to Armin. It is definitely one of the most breathtaking moments of the night that manage to bring people closer to each other feeling the magic bond and unity that only electronic dance music can offer them. It was pure joy to watch Armin performance as it comes straight from his heart and seems to enjoy so much his interaction with his devoted fans.
Next on stage was Moldova's biggest trance dj at the moment Andrew Rayel. His dj set was packed with heavy crunchy drums, slamming kicks, in your face hardstyle basslines and euphoric melodies that demanded the crowd to dance along with him. The majority of the tracks taken from his album on Armada Music including One in A Million featuring the stunning Jonathan Mendelsohn, his collaboration with Armin van Buuren EIFORYA and of course his official and unofficial remixes on many well known club anthems. One of those dj sets that you can describe as Tsunami that everybody was enjoying to the maximum with Andrew Rayel as the inspirational conductor who always climbs at the top of his dj booth to encourage the crowd to enjoy themselves even more and feel the incredible atmosphere. His performance was like a massive turnado taking over the stage that everything and anything was possible to happen.
The last performance at Armada Night in ADE 2014 was from the always smiling Orjan Nilsen and the Australian trance number 1 dj MaRLo This was the first time that it happened to catch them playing back 2 back set and I must say that are highly encouraged to repeat that explosive experiment whenever they can as their sounds are merged well together. The Norwegian high class producer along with the Australian counter part offered one of the hottest performances of the night as we were able to enjoy back 2 back their big monumental anthems like Orjan's Fair Game with Cosmic Gate, Violetta or XIING and MaRLo's Visions, Forces with Fisherman & Hawkins, Poseidon and countless more. They were the last and manage to keep the crowd on the dancefloor until their very last choice. Orjan Nilsen b2b MaRLo is a highly recommended performance to catch if it will happen in the future and why not to follow up with a collaboration in the studio as well. 
Armada Night's during ADE are very special events and ADE delegates who love to party always check them out cause always there are moments that stay in your mind forever. When such an exceptional label that leads the electronic dance music movement meets the organisation company that is Alda Events which is worldwide respected for their high class events you can only expect a spectacle beyond belief!
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