What Went Down: Future Music Festival Asia ’13 @ Sepang International Circuit

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  in Reports
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A State of Trance 600: The Expedition World Tour (Day 1)
ASOT600 marked the first time such event was held in this region, and with a good 30,000 peeps representing our Malaysian crowd (plus the flocks of tourists), it was no wonder that KL was once declared the trance city of Southeast Asia. Imagine the insanity of a concert that spanned a total of 9 hours, yet had people flocking to Sepang even way after 10pm — traffic congestion on the way there, and on the way out, was a near standstill all the time.

The door opened at 4pm to a steady drove of ravers. Locals MisterAriffin and FONO regaled the early birds, giving their best despite being regulated to the earliest slots. It wasn’t when the heat of the sun hit its peak at 5pm that Armin van Buuren officiated ASOT600 with a warm-up radio set. Playing the likes of ‘Crimson’, ‘Road to Los Angeles’ and ‘Waiting For’, the crowd slowly trickled in front of the main stage.

By 6pm, the global transmission of ASOT600 began with the arrival of Ben Gold on the deck. Naturally he opened with Armin van Buuren and Markus Schulz’s ASOT600 anthem, ‘The Expedition (Ørjan Nilsen Remix)’, signally that the show had finally begun. This was followed up by his own track ‘Mesocyclone’ and his remix of Gareth Emery’s ‘Tokyo’ was another notable favourite during his set. Ben’s set ended with a Maghrib break, which saw Armin playing softer, relaxing progressive house in the studio as an interlude to the next act.

Super8 & Tab reignited the concert again around 7.30pm, notably playing their own tune ‘Your Secret’s Safe’, ‘Awakenings’, and Oliver Smith’s ‘Pressure’. It ended with a minor power failure that lasted only for a few minutes before W&W got on stage to the excitement of everyone. Playing their original mix ‘Shotgun’, they were met with a power failure again, which didn’t hinder the excitement one bit once they continued with crowd favourite, Dash Berlin’s ‘Waiting’, and ending it with ASOT550’s anthem, ‘Invasion’. Cosmic Gate maintained the energy level with a series of their own tracks; ‘Be Your Sound’ and ‘The Theme’, along with First State and Anita Kelsey epical trance ‘Falling’.

As the last of Cosmic Gate’s playlist faded, the state of trance reached critical mass as Armin van Buuren made his presence right on the dot at 10.50pm. And what a show it was. Armin, as experienced punters would have expected, was all about the Jesus moments; spreading his hands in a cross-like fashion in anticipation of the crowd’s love. Rather surprisingly, he increased the BPM and played full trance – none of that vocal-laced commercial trance BS – that was unusual for him, leaving us nary a space to breathe. We love it.

Armin played Rank 1’s ‘Airwave’, Armin van Buuren Vs. Arty’s ‘Nehalennia’, his mashup of Ana Criado & Broning, ‘Suddenly Smash!’,’J’ai Envie de Toi’, Solarstone & Scott Bond & Heartbeat Vs. Armin van Buuren and Sophie Ellis Bextor’s ‘Not Giving Up on Love’, ‘In and Out Love’, and his mashup with ‘Airport Shivers’ among others. Validating the crowd’s love for his set list, Armin declared “This is the biggest trance party in Asia!” to the deafening din of our cheers.

After a 2-hour set, Egyptian duo Aly & Fila had the unfortunate burden of having to follow up the man himself. Despite that, they proved their mettle with a worthy follow up that consisted of their own ‘We Control the Sunlight’ and ‘Fireisland’ along with Above & Beyond’s spectacular ‘Satellite’. To please us even further, the duo threw t-shirts to the crowd twice, none that we managed to grab unfortunately. As their set drew to an end, confetti blew and fireworks lit up the sky, signalling the end of FMFA’s first day.