With New Years Eve weekend becoming a fantastic night for EDM shows over the past decade, there is no shortage of choices for you basically anywhere in the USA. From Griz in Ashville, North Carolina, to Decadance in Denver, Colorado, to Bassnectar in Atlanta, most major cities host large EDM shows. This year, at world famous Echostage in Washington DC, Armin Van Buuren and Eric Prydz played on the 30th and 31st respectively. Echostage is known as one of the best clubs in the country, and they did not disappoint with the amazing lineup for the beginning of the new year.
Armin kicked off the weekend on Saturday with Estiva opening for him, in a night sure to be full of trance. The line for Echostage was slow moving in the incredibly cold weather, even though it wasn’t that long. Security moved the crowd through as quickly as they could, and the room filled up while Estiva got the crowd ready for the main attraction with a fun, upbeat trance set. After his sets completion, he welcomed the trance god to the stage, stepped off, and allowed Armin Van Buuren to take over.
Lasers and @arminvanbuuren are two of our favorite things pic.twitter.com/xvzDSDdX7S
— Echostage (@echostage) December 31, 2017
(Credit @echostage twitter for video)
Armin made it clear right from the beginning that an upbeat, high energy set was upcoming, getting the crowd excited and dancing with ‘Heading Up High,” within the first three songs he played. He continued with some remixes and original tracks while mixing in a collection of lasers and amazing visuals, playing a trance remix of Alan Walker’s “Faded,” his own track “I Need You”, and even throwing in the drop from “Great Spirit,” along with other tribal sounds and 138 bpm drops. He even threw in a teaser for what was to come the next night when he dropped “Stay With Me,” by Pryda (Eric Prydz). It was an amazing display of music, to say the least.
The club was packed to the brim for Armin, and the crowd did not disappoint for New Year’s Eve either. The line moved quicker than the night before, even though it was considerably longer. In seemingly no time the room was full again, as Christoph took the crowd right until the countdown to New Years with his normal trance tunes, getting the crowd ready for what was coming in the new year.
The clock counted down to 12:00 and the crowd counted down along with the time. When new years finally came, and Eric Prydz stepped behind the decks, the vibe of the night changed, and an amazing display of music ensued.
HAPPY N(Y)E
cc: @ericprydz pic.twitter.com/SKYLh6KL8D
— Club Glow (@ClubGlow) January 1, 2018
(Credit @clubglow Twitter for video)
Prydz played an amazing mix of music from all of his aliases over the course of a long, extended set. He dropped tracks like “Opus”, from his own persona, “Rebel XX”, from his Pryda persona as well as “In the Reds”, from his Cirez D persona. The hits kept coming one after the other, with the whole show seeming like the songs flowed together perfectly. Prydz came on the decks right at 12:00, and didn’t depart until 4 am at the close of the club. A four hour set for his loyal fans was a fantastic way to bring in the new year. He wasn’t shy about his use of lasers either, bringing the new year in with a bang and a flash.
First lasers of 2018
cc: @ericprydz pic.twitter.com/tmLu62rM6a
— Echostage (@echostage) January 1, 2018
(Credit @echostage Twitter for video)
The weekend kicks off an amazing set of acts coming through Echostage this season. Above and Beyond, DJ Snake, Don Diablo, Lost Frequencies, and Steve Aoki are just a few of the names making stops in our nation’s capital this year. After being voted the number one club in the USA according to DJ Mag last year, they have certainly lived up to the hype with this new years celebration.
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