Above & Beyond at The Westcott Theater.

In my opinion the concert season over the last few months has been pretty lax. For trance music fans there has been an absolute drought. The Westcott Theater does a great job of bringing big acts to ‘Cuse that would have otherwise passed us by. It’s just those long stretches after a big show that bore me. I get excited for a huge act and have way too much fun, but once you’re hooked even a few weeks without a light show and pounding bass can become rather tedious. Well look no further, UK trance superstars Above & Beyond are stopping in Syracuse on Thursday, January 26th as part of their Group Therapy Tour. If you don’t know much about them or the progressive trance genre, I’ll do my best to elucidate it for you.

It’s really quite hard to define a genre but trance is a form of dance music which developed in the 1990s, gaining mainstream popularity in 1998 and only reaching the U.S. in the last ten years. Trance–or more specifically progressive trance–contains a huge range of sound but is generally very uplifting. You’ll hear repeating synthesizer phases and a method of adding sound after sound as the song continues. Songs generally reach a crescendo before dropping out several melodic elements and then suddenly bringing all the musical layers back at once. It is one of the least changed genres of electronica and is often accompanied by female vocals. From my experience many of the trance vocalists are far better singers than any of the major pop stars–many being classically trained, veteran singers that the average American has never heard of. Enough of that, let’s talk Above & Beyond.

Above & Beyond are the most prolific and famous trance group in the UK and pretty solid entrepreneurs in their own right. The trio includes Jono Grant, Paavo Siljamäki and Tony McGuinness. They’ve been performing since the millennium and run a massively successful record label called Anjunabeats, which pumps out trance music compilations at an astonishing rate. Everyone who’s into the electronic music scene knows Above & Beyond, probably have an album or two and have probably listened to the podcast called Trance Around The World. Above & Beyond are a force to be reckoned with and the sound they built has left a lasting mark on trance and electronic music of all genres. They’ve been dropping Anjunabeats compilations almost twice a year but haven’t had an album under their famous moniker since 2008. 2011 changed this when Above & Beyond released one of the most epic trance albums I’ve ever heard. Group Therapy is the title and the album is just that. With energetic, highly inspirational melodies and lyrics straight out of a session with your shrink, it is music that stays with you and an experience that can change your life. Clocking in at just over 80 minutes, the album is a colossal achievement and piece of sonic art. Here’s a review from Trancesound.net. As you can probably tell, I’m just a little pumped up about the tickets I’ve got sitting on my desk.

One thing I’d like to stress: this is a LIVE show. Obviously it’s live, but what I mean is that the album has been translated for actual instruments (instead of turntables). That means you won’t drop your cash to see a few DJs with turntables, but live guitarists, vocalists and drums. Take my word for it, each member of Above & Beyond is an actual musician and this show is going to be amazing. Another difference with Above & Beyond is that they use male and female vocalists. British singer/songwriters Richard Bedford and Zoë Johnston lend their powerful voices to bring Above & Beyond’s genius songwriting to life.

Above & Beyond at The Westcott Theater
Thursday, January 26th
Doors at 8:00 p.m. Show at 9:00 p.m.
BUY TICKETS NOW – JUST $25

Check out a few standout tracks:

© 2012, Michael Rotella. All rights reserved.