Sometimes the best club scenes take place in nontraditional venues. Skip the dance floor, VIP lounge, and your neighborhood bar stool and head to Red Rocks on Saturday night, where the Global Dance festival brings trance superstar Tiesto – voted the top international DJ three times by DJ magazine – and a slew of other talented DJs to the great outdoors.
For Tiesto, the Red Rocks show is one of the first U.S. appearances for his global “Elements of Life” tour. The U.S. leg of the tour just kicked off Thursday in New York, but he’ll be on the road promoting the “Elements of Life” album for more than a year.
“I’ve been on the road since March, and the tour is going to last until next year in May,” he said. The disc, released in April in the United States, has gone gold in his native Holland and elsewhere in Europe. “My fan base is pretty much global now because I travel so much, but I can sell out venues with 15,000 or 20,000 in Europe.”
Red Rocks may be a smaller venue than he’s used to, but the unique setting is something he hasn’t seen. “This will be my first time at Red Rocks,” Tiesto said. “I haven’t ever been there, but I’ve seen the U2 video, so I’m looking forward to it.”
In Europe, the “Elements of Life” tour involves a massive stage show, complete with lasers, fire elements and huge high-definition video panels, but with his hectic U.S. tour schedule, the staging had to be scaled back.
“With back-to-back gigs in the U.S., it’s a bit insane,” he said. “The Red Rocks show will be a smaller ‘Elements of Life’ show, since we just can’t bring the full stage show to the U.S.”
Not all of Tiesto’s appearances will take place in massive venues. His club sets vary from his stadium shows not only because of the staging, but musically, as well.
“A club show is more intimate, and you can do whatever you want, be more experimental,” he said. “In a big venue you go more epic with big melodies, big drums, big beats, so you make sure you reach the entire crowd.”
After touring more than a year, Tiesto plans to stay in Holland for a while to get straight to work on his next projects, which include producing new tracks in the studio and working on his latest love, an Asian restaurant/club called Cineac he opened earlier this year in Amsterdam. Cineac offers upscale dining followed by a true club scene as the night progresses.
“It’s definitely a trend, I think,” Tiesto said. “You go for dinner and cocktails, and around 11 or 12 it turns into a dance club with great music.”
So why would a highly successful international DJ want to run a restaurant? “I’ve traveled the world and seen so many cool places, and Asian food is my favorite. If I hadn’t been a DJ, I would have wanted to be a chef, definitely.”
Catch Tiesto at Red Rocks on Saturday night, along with live vocal sets from BT and Jes, and performances by Richard Vission, Aphrodite and MC Dino. Locals Kostas, Dragon, Trajikk, Hycloud, Fury, Shawn Mitiska, Gift, Wyatt Earp, Smyle, Technical Endevour and
Curious MC will round out the show.
Global Dance Festival, Saturday night at Red Rocks. 5 p.m. all ages, $40, ticketmaster
Catch the party bus
If you want to skip the traffic hassles on Saturday night, hop on board the party bus to Global Dance. The pre-party takes place at Sutra Room from 5 to 7 p.m., then the bus departs with its 56 passengers up to Red Rocks. The $20 tickets include round-trip transportation, landing back at Sutra Room around 1 a.m., plus free vodka drinks and discount tickets to an after-hours party (details TBA). Tickets to the Global Dance bus are available at (click on “concerts”).
Kat Valentine writes about nightlife Fridays in 7Days. Reach her at kat@kingproduction.com or call 303-954-1568.
