When one of the city's longest-running and best-loved clubs welcomes a bona fide electronic music icon, it's bound to result in a night of ecstatic, hands in the air dancing.
Sure enough, that's exactly what happened when trance legend Paul Van Dyk gave his debut Vietnam performance at Lush in January.
Touring the world to launch his upcoming 10th studio album, Guiding Light, PvD included music from throughout his unmatched career in a set that mixed beauty and energy in equal measure. Having long ago moved beyond the limitations of simple DJ sets, Paul Van Dyk brought an arsenal of technology to the booth, enabling him to construct and remix his music on the fly. Reacting to the crowd in the moment, he pushed huge synth builds to dizzying heights before slamming back to the driving high-speed beats that characterize the genre that he's been a pillar of for the best part of three decades.
A mix of younger fans from the burgeoning Vietnamese trance scene and veteran trance lovers from around the globe filled the club, and their reactions to both classic tracks and previously unheard cuts from the new album obviously delighted Paul Van Dyk. His undimmed love for the music and performing was obvious as he kept on playing “one more tune.”
With the support of sponsors Belaire and Super Bock, Lush went all out to provide a total experience worthy of such a performer, bringing in a festival-ready sound and lighting system for the night and working with the local Trance Lovers community DJs to prime the crowd before the main event. Showing once again that Lush defies being easily pigeon-holed, Paul Van Dyk was just the latest in a long list of hugely influential and exciting acts that the club has brought over to Vietnam for the first time.
You can find the full album of the Paul Van Dyk show here.
