ABOVE & BEYOND 

When Above and Beyond advertise for any show, you know straight away, those tickets are going to sell fast. But wait. What if Above and Beyond advertise a hometown show in London, at Printworks, on two back to back nights? You literally have about 180 seconds to grab a ticket before they are gone. But what if you aren’t even in the country, and then you realize a week before the event the raw scale of what is actually going? That’s when you tell yourself, that you’re going to move mountains to attend this event.

So lets ask first, what is Printworks, and why is it such a big deal?! Printworks is a new(ish) nightclub that operates out of a converted multi story warehouse, over in Eastern London. It’s realistically, the most perfect venue for Above and Beyond that you could imagine, being able to hold up to 3000 attendees in a spacious long room, with VIP guests having access to an upper balcony, and watching the show with a birds eye view from above (but come on, everybody wants to be down in the mosh). With large LED screens scattered throughout the venue, you get some amazing lighting effects and crowd interaction, as well as a few small-time lasers behind the tables giving you that authentic “Above and Beyond” feel to it that everybody has come to know and love.

The last time n(and first time) I was fortunate enough to see Above and Beyond play, was at Sziget festival in 2018 – at around a 2am time-slot, in one of the big tents – Which first of all, was absolutely beyond belief, and mind blowing back then, although the set was only an hour long...So imagine my thought process when I discover that at Printworks, in the city where it all started, we would witness a 3-hour set from 11pm until 2am. What more can you possibly ask for? You’ve got one of the best venues, and you’re basically sharing it with the gods of trance.

11pm is slowly creeping up, the room is going quiet. Suddenly the mixing decks light up. A large white square appears behind them. It’s happening. The crowd energy starts to pick up. Goosebumps appear on your arms. ‘Eternal starts playing. The music slowly starts picking up with an uplifting melody. The lights are building, as words start to appear within the white square. “IT’S LOVELY TO BE BACK AT HOME.” The words slowly fade away and a new sentence starts to be typed onto the screen. “LONDON NEVER LOOKED THIS PRETTY”. Then the beat drops. Immediately, not a single person in the venue is standing still, as the crowd is a wave of motion, all bouncing along to the beat.

Over the three hour duration of the set, so many classic tunes were dropped, to engage the crowd at different times, and provoke different emotions. Many people would complain about the duration of a set being so long (3 hours is quite a decent amount of time), but having varied tracks played at specific times during the set, you could feel the mood and the energy being moulded throughout Printworks. From a steady groove, into harder trance, followed by a build into Surrender.  And when you have multiple iconic tracks being dropped, the entire crowd all start moving as a cohesive unit. This doesn’t even factor in when your newer tracks being thrown out – Northern Soul, with Richard Bedford, with the totality of the crowd belting out the lyrics as loudly as they possibly could. Not to mention the entire crowd losing their mind when poor old Heisenberg (hat and all) makes an appearance on the big screen.

The one big moment I was looking for (and unfortunately didn’t receive) was having the world famous “Sahara Love” track being thrown out, as it was recently remixed by none other than Seven Lions. I was almost sure I’d get to hear those melodious tones reverberate through my ears. However, I did say it was impossible to be unhappy at an Above and Beyond set, and that’s true – because the second I realized we weren’t going to be getting some Sahara Love, Happiness Amplified was thrown out, and that’s when you start to get the tingles down your arms and spine.

And then of course, there’s the iconic moment that everybody waits for at every Above and Beyond set. “It’s raining, it’s pouring. A black sky is falling. It’s cold tonight”. There couldn’t be a single person in the audience who doesn’t understand the significance of those words, and they know that Sun and Moon is (arguably) one their most iconic and recognisable tracks. Once again, not a single person can hold their composure, and everybody is dancing away, screaming along at the top of their lungs. The beat stops. A hush falls over the crowd before a large cheer erupts, as Jono and Paavo head into the crowd. Everybody wants this moment, myself included. Just once. The entire rave world stops, when it’s time to press the button. As the lucky few head up on stage, the music starts looping, as the lucky few who are summoned by the trance gods get to start the drop. One day….one day that’ll be one of us!

Over the three hours, Above and Beyond played such uplifting tracks, in the most perfectly suited venue (and atmosphere), displayed an excellent lights show (no Transmission level lasers though), maintained an excellent energy level in what can only be considered a slog of a set, they’ve once again proved they are some of the greatest artists and producers to date, and doing back to back nights of long sets, they’ve certainly cemented my attendance at any of their future events