Tiësto heats up trance floor

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Tiësto shook Reno out of its Arctic chill early Saturday morning at the Peppermill Tuscany Ballroom with his In Search of Sunrise party.

For three hours, this world-renowned trance DJ delivered a solid mix and the crowd of approximately 3,000 showed him nothing but love, dancing to his thunderous sound.

Trance electronica fuses house music’s pulse and techno’s synthesized sound to reach driving apexes before it brings the dancing crowd back down.

Trance is Tiësto’s sunrise, his awakening and heartbeat, and he's very good at it.

The sound

Voted the number one DJ in the world for 2008 by the DJ List, Tiësto mixed sounds from his "In Search of Sunrise 7" album with some of his older works. “The Elements of Life” was a definite crowd pleaser. He even threw in a little hip-hop, re-mixing Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown.”

A huge backdrop displayed images that were entertaining when not watching Tiesto, whose real name is Tijs Verwest, groove to his own sound.

Several times the screen flashed some of the most magnificent cities in the world, including New York, Sao Paulo, London, Prague, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. And then in bold, black letters appeared "Reno."

Could it be true? Could Reno, even for three hours, stand next to those metropolises?

I say definitely not in sophistication and style, but absolutely in connecting to Tiësto’s global sound.

The look

Some in the crowd looked like they dusted off their Burning Man outfits for the affair.

I can dig it. But they didn’t bring Burning Man’s “Leave no trace” code to the ballroom. Plastic cups and water bottles littered the elegant space, making it very difficult to dance.

After hearing about his four-hour parties and not ready to brace the cold reality, I felt deprived.

At the finale, the screen shows Tiesto walking toward a sunrise on a beach. I know I’m supposed to come back to Reno now, but I think I’ll stay on the island of Ibiza just a little while longer and groove.

DJ Trevor Simpson from Oakland, Calif., was a solid opener. I especially enjoyed his last mix, which was a tribute to president-elect Barack Obama.

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