Dear Friends,
2010 comes to an end and I’d like to add a personal note. It’s the perfect moment to look back on what I think was a beautiful musical year.
Of course I have to start with thanking you for the incredible support for my music, sets and radio shows. Being voted number 1 DJ by DJ Magazine for the fourth time in a row is simply the highlight of my career. To get so much back from the crowd for doing something I love is simply the best thing on this planet.
2010, for me, was all about the release of my fourth artist album ‘Mirage‘ & the new Armin Only tour. It is the biggest project I’ve ever done! It was more fun than ever because of the new studio and the people I worked with.
DJ-wise there were many highlights this year. The kick off of the Mirage Tour in Utrecht, Pavilion Moscow, SKK Arena St Petersburg, EDC Los Angeles, Sunrise Poland, Cacao Beach Bulgaria, Electric Zoo New York, O2 Arena Berlin, MFCC Malta, WTC Dubai, my tours of India, Brazil, and of course playing for the Dutch soccer team for 250.000 people when they arrived home after the World cup in South Africa.
Of course I cannot forget the amazing A State of Trance episode 450 events. 4 cities, 5 massive events: Toronto, New York, Bratislava, Wroclav. All parties broadcasted live, completely sold out and filled with an ever growing #TranceFamily. It will be hard to top these but we’re going to try… ASOT 500 and the 10 year celebration of the show coming up with now 5 massive events planned for 5 weeks on 5 different continents (Johannesburg, Miami, Buenos Aires, Den Bosch and Sydney). Check www.astateoftrance.com for all the info. Really hope to see you there!
This year we also added quite a few stations to the weekly worldwide broadcast and you can now also hear ‘A State Of Sundays‘ on Sirius XM radio every Sunday. 24 hours A State of Trance! Another dream that came true.
Unfortunately, 2010 also had some bad news. I think no one will forget the Loveparade tragedy in Duisburg Germany. For the victims of the Loveparade I teamed up with Paul Oakenfold and Paul van Dyk to create a song called ‘Remember Love‘. The proceeds of this song will be donated to the families of the victims. Remember love.
This week on a State of Trance I’ll broadcast the Top 20 of 2010, as voted by the listeners. Many of you always ask me for my personal 10 best. I’ve never been a big fan of charts because they always underestimate the power of the ‘moment’ in a DJ set. Some tracks are huge but played at the wrong time, they could have a terrible impact. The perfect DJ set for me is always the 1+1=3 rule. Two tracks, played in that order, at that particular time can cause something extra.
But pressure was on from many sides, so this year I’ve made a personal Top 10, purely based on the tracks that really touched me, are future classics or that were simply huge in my sets this year so here we go:
Armin van Buuren’s personal top 10 of 2010:
1. Daniel Kandi pres. Timmus – Symphonica
2. Swedish House Mafia – One
3. Sebastian Brandt – 450
4. Armin van Buuren feat. Christian Burns – This Light Between Us
5. DJ’s United – Remember Love
6. Faithless – Not Going Home (Armin van Buuren remix)
7. Armin van Buuren – Desiderium 207 & Mirage
8. Jon O’Bir feat. Fisher – Found a Way (Joint Operations Centre remix)
9. Ali Wilson – Pandora
10. DJ Governor – Shades Of Grey
If you want to hear all the best tracks of 2010 in a two hour mix, the A State of Trance Yearmix 2010 has just been released and will be broadcasted next week as ASOT 489.
I want to wish you a wonderful Christmas and all the best in happiness and good health for you and your loved ones for 2011. Let’s make it another beautiful year!
Love,
Armin
