It’s always frenzy when the world’s richest DJ comes to Washington D.C. He’s so beloved in the nation’s capital that his December 15th show at Echostage sold out two months in advance, prompting an addition of a December 14th show which also sold out. When he frequently tweets about his love for the Capitals and Redskins, it’s no wonder why he’s that much more popular in Chocolate City.
After his surprise appearance at club Josephine on the 13th to support his label mate Ken Loi and his Friday the 14th performance at Echostage, we reached the much anticipated Saturday performance. Despite his high regard, people were still wondering how interesting his set would be.
Tiesto reppin’ DC
Over the last few months, some have called his sets predictable & have questioned his live performance creativity, and rightfully so. However, on December 15th, he debunked those notions by providing a powerful 3 hour set. He began with his 2012 electro-house hit “Chasing Summers” and ended gracefully with Zedd’s pop-house ballad “Clarity”.
In between, he refrained from playing his classic trance tunes and primarily stuck with recent progressive house and electro house tracks that could be heard on his “Club Life” radio show or an episode of “Hardwell On Air”. Here are a few noteworthy pleasant surprises from the show:
Tiesto is with the Trap Game – During the last half of the set, Tiesto dropped DJ Carnage’s trap remix of Hardwell’s “Spaceman”. It was a great curveball for the crowd because I’m sure not many expected him to go that route. More importantly, it shows how at age 43 he is still at the top of EDM – he’s willing to evolve his style as times progress, rather than being stuck on what was great a decade ago.
He abstained from making his set a Tiesto’s Greatest Hits playlist – He certainly played a few great, crowd pleasing Tiesto songs; but, he omitted some popular songs that many would expect him to play, such as “C’mon” and “Zero 76”. To make up for it, he played several lesser known bangers that only his closest followers would know. For example, while we’re on the topic of Hardwell, I was very surprised to hear him drop a Hardwell remix of his vintage song “Lethal Industry”.
Playing for 3 hours – In the day and age where festival sets limit DJs to 75-90 minutes and most club sets max out at 2 hours, fans were truly appreciative that he was on for a full 3 hours. Although he’s arguably EDM’s biggest brand, this lengthy set displayed his passion for his fans.
All in all, there was a lot of hype going into this show and Tiesto delivered a stout performance like a true veteran. A fulfilling weekend like this only helps him gain more fans and it further solidified his standing as the #2 DJ in the world.
Post by Arish Doha – House music maniac & connoisseur of all things electronic. Raging all places in the nations capital. Another night, another dance floor.
Image via Club Glow / Doug Van Sant
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