Life is made of small moments like this. A message that is made universal by Tony McGuinness, Paavo Siljamäki, and Jono Grant at every Above & Beyond show. Their uplifting trance makes up only half of their shows. The other half is in the inspirational messages and the moments they create during their shows. You might be thinking to yourself, what moments? It’s just a show, it’s just music. However, anyone that has ever attended an Above & Beyond show knows its much more than just a show, much more than just trance music. I found this to be more than true at ABGT100.
Three weeks prior to this massive concert to celebrate the 100th episode of their radio show, Group Therapy, I was still ticketless. Every 50 shows (around a year this takes), Above & Beyond has one massive concert for one night only, if you’re not there, too bad. Upon realizing a concert of this magnitude would likely never come back to the US for years to come, I quickly purchased my East GA ticket for the price of a kidney. I should probably add, I attended this event by myself. There weren’t a lot of people I knew at the time that would have been willing to impulsively buy such a ticket weeks before.
As I strolled into MSG on this warm October night, I had a whole range of emotions. Excited and anxious in anticipation for what I was about to witness, but also nervous and a bit lonely as I knew no one there. After going through security and receiving my wristband, I headed towards to the East GA entrance. With the flick of my wrist the security guards let me pass on to heaven. Upon entering the arena, I stood there in spectacle for a few moments. You can’t take in just how big MSG is until you’re standing there on the floor and you see thousands of people lined in the seats. After giving some high-fives to people leaning on the gates in West GA, I was ushered to move along the walkway by a security guard. Jaw still agape I approached the second security guard who let me into the immense rectangle that was East GA. After lurking in the back for a bit, I met my first friends of the night and still friends to this day, Steve and Greg. They are trance lovers at heart and needless to say we all hit it off immediately.
All my worries and fears of being by myself quickly dissipated. Within the span of maybe twenty minutes I met 10-15 new friends. I don’t think I’ll ever have the honor of attending a show with better vibes or people than the ones I met at ABGT100. Everywhere I looked all I saw were people smiling, laughing, and dancing. Whether it was people in the stands who would be looking for high-fives like it was there job as you walked to and from East GA. Or the fans at the front of West GA who were separated from me by nothing more than a small gate and a trench filled with crocodiles (security guards).
Upon arrival East GA was only half full, but by the time Andrew Bayer was finishing up with “Super Human”, and Mat Zo was preparing to come on, the whole arena was packed. The full scale of ABGT100 was coming to light. A sold out show with 18,000 die hard Above & Beyond fans all waiting in anticipation for a much needed session of group therapy. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands watching the live-stream around the globe. When the clock struck 11 PM, screaming and cheering echoed around the vast arena. As Above & Beyond received their introduction from that mysterious yet unforgettable feminine British voice, the cheering only got louder. My heart began to pound and breath shorten as they introduced their latest album and song “We Are All We Need”. The names of all the countless Above & Beyond fans began to appear on the jumbotron and form the handprint that is the face of their album. A clear message that the album was not about them, but about the all the fans who worship and cherish their music. As soon as the goosebumps subsided I left my new friends and made my way closer to the stage. Feeling completely at home I began to talking and dancing with whomever I was lucky enough to cross paths with.
When you’re having as much fun as I was, time seems to move faster than ever. Before I knew it we were an hour into their set and the vocals for Sun & Moon were blasting around the arena. 18,000 people sang in unison as one of Above & Beyond’s greatest songs rebounded across MSG. At times during their performance I would turn around and stare in awe at the thousands of people who took up nearly every seat in MSG. Imagine if the New York Rangers had just scored the winning goal in overtime and everyone was absolutely losing their minds in the stands. That was the atmosphere at MSG for two straight hours. Fast forward about 30 minutes and Above & Beyond had just chosen the two lucky fans that would push the button for the latest release off their album, “Blue Sky Action”. The two blessed fans walked up to the stage with smiles so big you’d think they’d just won the lottery (because in a way they had). Moments later the button was pushed and once again 18,000 people began simultaneously jumping and dancing in unison.
As the end of the night neared, I was still in disbelief that it had creeped up so fast. I had become lost in meeting new people and dancing with new found friends. However, the night would not be complete without hearing my personal Above & Beyond favorite, “A Thing Called Love”. It was the last song they played and it will forever be imbedded in my memory. As they dropped their well known club mix, all of MSG sang and danced harder than ever to the tear jerking song. The beat started to die down and the piano trickled in as the vocals for the emotional track rang out one last time across the arena. I tested the limits of my vocal chords and hugged all the new friends I had met that night. Friends that I will always feel a connection with, even to this very day. Red and white confetti then shot out and down poured all over East GA for what felt like an eternity. I was standing in a never ending sea of Above & Beyond confetti with people friends who were just as happy and who felt just as blessed to be there as I did. It was in that spectacular and seemingly never ending moment that I realized, life is made of moments like this. Moments you never forget.
From left to right: Steve, Greg, and me.
Thank you Above & Beyond, and to all the fans who made that night as special as it was.
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