brother Eller. It has been a true honour and inspira-
tion to work with such talented artists, singers and
songwriters. It has been an ‘intense’ process, but
I am very pleased with the result.”
For the tour, Armin and ALDA Events teamed
up with theatre director Jos Thie (previous direc-
tor of the musicals, Tommy and Doe Maar) and
creative mind Sander Reneman (owner of 250K).
The collaboration has resulted in an unconventional
and fresh approach to the electronic dance music
show. The basis of Armin Only will always be a DJ
set, but to make it more interesting for the crowd,
Armin wanted the live moments to appear as if in
a theatre.
During the second week of June this year, the
Armin Only Intense crew arrived in South Africa
and met with technical supplier and ‘one-stop-
shop’, Gearhouse SA, in Johannesburg. Under the
guidance of lighting operations manager, Stuart
L
arge-scale rave type events in South Africa
are few and far between so when the person
voted DJ Magazine’s best DJ no less than five
times brings a large budget tour to the country for
one night only, it’s sure to be spectacular. Started in
November 2013 in Amsterdam, Armin Only Intense
will travel to over 20 destinations in all corners of
the world and end in Amsterdam for a final show
on 5 December 2014.
The latest world tour concept was inspired by
Armin van Buuren’s most recent album, Intense.
According to him, Intense embraces more genres
than any of his other albums. “It contains cross-
overs from progressive to trance and from classi-
cal music to rock. I am a perfectionist and some
of the tracks took me months to finish. I wanted
each of them to be perfect. I have incorporated as
many as ‘real’ instruments as possible, including
a live orchestra and sounds of the rock band of my
Night of a million lights ...
well almost
by Bruce Schwartz, Electrosonic SA Entertainment Lighting Manager
LiD
08-09/14
22
