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As I start this article, I want to say that the first thing I said when I walked out of this show was.
HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS TO PEOPLE?
Also know that I have added some of the only good pictures I can find, however, know that they do the show ZERO justices!!!!
I have been waiting to see a Prydz Holo show since he first debuted it in 2011. However, we have never been lucky enough for him to bring the show to Australia, when I heard that he would debut his brand new Holosphere 6.0 show at Tomorrowland 2019 I knew I had to be there.
This would be my 4th Tomorrowland on top of countless other Festivals, Club Shows, Gigs etc and I can say right now that I have never seen anything like this in my life!! This show has been Eric Prydz baby for over 5 years, when he first came up with the concept, the technology did not even exist to make it happen. In true Prydz style he went out and created the technology, 5 years and several million dollars later I was one of the lucky few to be witnessing this historic show.
We arrived early to get a good spot up front, the first thing you notice when you walked into the Freedom Stage this year was that it seemed like they had built the whole Stage around the Sphere itself. The roof was twice as high as last year, and because of the lighting rig around the Sphere, the roof and wall lighting were very different. When I spoke to my Tomorrowland contact, I found out that, in fact, that is just what they had done.
With the Chainsmokers on Main Stage, Above and Beyond, Zeds Dead and Martin Garrix all closing their own stages at the same time you knew it was the true Prydz fans in attendance. As we waited for Tiga to finish, you could feel the room starting to fill with more than just bodies. There was an air of excitement and anticipation in the air people knew they were about to see something special.
I have been going to Tomorrowland for 4 years and I have seen anything run late. However, there is a first time for everything and this was it. We waited and waited; the crowd started to get restless. Calls of Prydz, Hurry up and Hey Ho where being sung as we waited, 30 mins passed and all the lights went down a low hum started to rise and we knew this was it.
A beat plays and 2 massive mechanical claws appear on the LED wall behind the Sphere as if they are holding it off the ground. White lines appear at the bottom of the Sphere and start moving up and around it as they crawled up the Sphere. It starts to spin and flick from lighting back to lines and back again.
The crowd where in shock and aware, I have to admit I was stunned by the clarity of the Sphere and the backing wall. My friends and I kept looking at each other saying, “What is going on?” “How is this possible?” We were about 10-15 mins in to this amazing show when I turned to 2 of my very good friends and incredibly knowledgeable Trance & Techno fans and asked “Have you heard any of this music before?”
I knew the answer before I even asked it was “No”. It was at that point I started to wonder did he not only create the show but the music to go with this outstanding show? Once again in true Prydz style of course he did.
Everything about this show just got better and better as it went on. The music got harder, the backing graphics got better, and the sphere got more detailed as Prydz started to step it up into high gear. The Sphere became the Death Star then an incredibly detailed eye and with each change the crowd went crazy!!! As we get toward the end of the 2-hour set, we started to wonder if he would play any of his iconic tracks?
The whole stage and Sphere glows red and yellow then blue and the PRYDA “Y” is on the front of the Sphere. Everyone goes crazy as they recognise the incoming track. The crowd sings “All of the love we Generate” The beat kicks in and the stage turns red and the word PRYDA appears from one side of the screen across the sphere with the Y on the front of the Sphere and all the way to the other side.
It rotates as if to be coming out over the crowd; the whole stage goes black there is nothing but some strobes flashing to the beat to light the room as the music builds and builds. You can see Eric leaning back looking to the heavens’ hands on the decks ready to drop what will surely send the crowd into a frenzy.
BOOM!! the stage erupts in sound as one of the most iconic tracks of our generation is played by its creator at what is his prized show. The back LED wall bursts into red and yellow flames and the lasers shot across the crowd.
Everyone singing and dancing as if we are one.
The set was ending and we are all wondering what is he going to close his most advanced show ever on? We did not have to wait long before we can hear the familiar sound of Opus. The rear screen turns off, the sphere turns black and the strobe lights and stage light go to the beat. Then the roof lighting creates a circle around the sphere all pointing down as if to make a wall of white light around the sphere.
The track gets faster and faster and people jump knowing that it will drop at any minute. Boy, did it drop!! The sphere turned into a huge merchanile eye looking around the crowd rapidly, the backing screen turned into a scene from space with asteroids and stars shooting over us as the ever-watchful eye darted around the crowd. I don’t have to tell you how mental the crowd was going I had seen nothing like this in life. The Screen, The Lasers, The Sphere and the Music all working in perfect unity. It was like it had taken me to another planet where the rules and lighting and sound don’t exist.
As the track winds down, the Sphere turns into what could be the most highly detailed globe I have ever seen. As it slowly rotated, you could see that they had even incorporated fireworks going off over Belgium. The backing screen goes black, and the Sphere stops spinning and turns off, the music stops and the crowd goes crazy!! Screaming, clapping, whistling, etc.
This goes on for several minutes while Eric shuts down all his kit in side the Sphere, and then something happened I have never Eric do before.
With a room only being filled by the sound of the cheering crowd he walked out in front of the Sphere and got as close to the crowd as he could and started waving and saying thank you. Then we all noticed it; he was crying. He was so overcome by completing this show for the first time after coming up with it then he was in tears.
People started to cheer louder and after a few mins of saying thank you to us he disappeared off stage. My friends and I all stood there for a few mins in shock of what we just saw, one even asked me “what the F&*K just happened?” hahaha even today as I write this I am not sure that anyone will explain how special this was.
It was more than the show, it was the crowd, the fact it was Tomorrowland Birthday and we were the only people in the world watching as it was not being lived streamed.
I am sorry to say that on the Wednesday before weekend 2 of Tomorrowland 2019 there was an accident in the Freedom stage because of the intense heat. Part of the roof fell off and this caused Tomorrowland to close the stage for the upcoming weekend which means there will be no Holosphere show for those who attend Weekend 2.
Where the 6.0 show will go next, no one really knows, however if you can go YOU MUST, even if you are not a Trance fan this is so much more than seeing a DJ.
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