The Union, Boodang & Apollo - Feat. Above & Beyond @ Flames Central
There are DJs who can rock a party, a club, a festival. And there are acts that can write songs that will bring out the goose bumps in you. But there’s only one group that can do both: Above & Beyond. Currently fourth in the DJ Magazine annual poll – the highest-placed Brits – in the last year alone, they have sound-tracked the unveiling of a new spaceship, performed an acoustic show in a hot air balloon, and entranced a crowd of 8,000 in Beirut with their first full live show. For the world’s most famous trance trio, there are no limits!
From small, East European club shows to major festival like America’s Coachella, Above & Beyond have a unique ability to captivate and engage audiences. Their music has grandeur and melody, but it’s edged with steel too. There are dark shadows among the sweet moments. Trance is too small a word for their cinematic, ambitious sound, it’s bigger than genres.
From remixing Madonna (2001), to winning Essential Mix of the Year (2004) or playing to one million people on the beach in Rio de Janeiro (New Year’s Eve 2007), the trio, made up of Tony McGuinness, Paavo Siljamaki and Jono Grant, have been a constant upward curve since the trio formed in 2000. Above & Beyond make music, pure and simple. “We’re trying to connect with people,” says McGuinness. “When you see people singing along as passionately as they do, I guess you’re getting it right.”
The next major project is the new Above & Beyond studio album – currently scheduled for Fall 2010, their first since ‘Tri-State’ and in its finishing stages. Above & Beyond are a team of perfectionists, constantly striving to get better. And what they do is make music with melody, movement – and meaning. Music, in short, that matters to people across the globe. “You can do stuff that is popular without selling out,” says Jono. “If you do something with quality, people respond to that.” Which is why even when they are half a world away, audiences always make Above & Beyond feel at home.