... Trance God Paul Van Dyk shaking the earth at La Voile Bleu beach resort, 30 Km south of Beirut.

As part of the "Politics of Dancing Vol. 2" Tour, Van Dyk, or PVD, took to the stage at 1 AM on July 23rd for a rich three and a half hour set. He started and ended his set with his latest smash hit "The Other Side" (September 2005 official release date) and captivated the audience throughout. His set also included some beloved classics such as Josh Wink's "Higher State of Consciousness" and a remixed intro of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name".

There were fears of him not showing up due to the bomb the night before; however, such fears were torn down as he performed in full effect in front of a huge and eager crowd. When his set was complete, the crowds cheered him on and he indulged them for three separate encores until he finally bid them good night with the same tantalizing track he started with - "The Other Side".

One major disappointment was that Van Dyk wrapped up his performance at 4:30 in the morning. The organizers didn't set up a follow on act to wind the night down after such a climactic ending. Furthermore the lights were blasted on in full effect, essentially making it clear that the night was over.

Traditionally in Lebanon, such marquee events include additional DJs to close out by 6 o'clock or later. As a result the spectacular break of dawn, or "l'heure bleu" as it is commonly referred to, was part of the thirty minute drive back to Beirut, rather than being on the beach for the tranquil scene to close out the event.

Paul Oakenfold is another DJ that certainly knows how to involve the crowd. When he performs in Beirut, Oakenfold has locally produced custom visuals incorporating snapshots the Beirut streets, including pictures of the Million Man March, into captivating animated eye candy. The lack of such visuals for Van Dyk may well be the fault of the local organizers, as only canned visuals were projected, straight from Van Dyk's DVD set.

The Good
* Mind Blowing DJ
* Outdoors event, beach side
* The visuals were projected on tall huge white boat sails - the icon of the beach resort. A nice change from your generic rectangular projection screens.
* PVD rewarded the ecstatic crowd by spinning some top notch tracks including several unforgettable classics
* The beach resort is large in size allowing some to kick back enjoying the music in the less crowded areas away from the crowd
* PVD's recorded session of the night will certainly be on all our iPods!

The Bad
* Venue ended at 4:30 AM with no DJs following PVD like such events usually do
* Lacking custom visuals
* VVIP and VIP tickets were clearly oversold, packing the (combined) section. Organizers should not be overselling tickets to any venue, even more so when you pay $50-$100 per ticket.

Sources: Ya Libnan, Pictures from Mix FM