Friday start time is a hard sell for a young EDM crowd, and the audience for the first hour or so of Van Buuren’s set was notably sparse.
But he found ways to make it fit the arena-rock legacy of the Fabulous Forum in the renovated venue’s first EDM set.Ī 7 p.m. Friday’s set found Van Buuren playing music that’s fundamentally functional (for dancing, not watching). Van Buuren is a master of the long-form rave, and this set (billed as “Armin Van Buuren Presents Armin Only: Intense”) gave him more than enough room to stretch his legs as a DJ, even if this reviewer conked out after about three and a half hours. Thousands of teens and early twentysomethings reared on recent American EDM culture went looking for a revived sound with today’s big stage productions on Friday at the Forum. Van Buuren, like his countryman Tiesto before him, kept at it and adapted long enough to capitalize on dance music’s latest American ascent.
