Left to Right: CMB writers Greg Fingerhut and Tyler Yonchiuk, friends of CMB Jon Carrado and Maura Simonic, CMB writer Pete Lysiak, friend of CMB Megan Pulliam

This past Saturday, CMB writers Tyler (bodekid) and Pete (chillballpete) as well as myself made the trip out to Governor’s Island in New York City to see a few of the best acts Trance has to offer. And it definitely did not disappoint.

View of the NY Skyline From the Show

First of all, the stage setup was absolutely amazing. We had to take a ferry to get there, and I really wasn’t sure what to expect with Governor’s Island. The stage was under a tent with concrete ground. What was also cool was that before the concrete there was sand, so people who weren’t raging in the front were able to just chill in the sand in the back. And when you looked to your left (facing the stage), you were literally right on the water, and the New York skyline was lit up in the back, with the main feature being the New World Trade Center Building, which was lit up in the night sky despite the fact that it is still being built.

Then there was the music. It started off with DJ Zack Roth, who was definitely able to get the crowd excited for what was to come as many were still filing in via ferries. Opening up for big acts like Dash Berlin is nothing new for Roth, who also has opened up for Trance powerhouses such as Above & Beyond and Armin van Burren. It was also undoubtedly good for Roth to play in his hometown of New York City.

Tritonal Killing it On Stage

Then Tritonal took the stage, and they were absolutely amazing. The duo of Chad Cisneros and Dave Reed just had energy that was pouring off the stage. These guys out of Austin, Texas have really made some noise in the Trance scene after coming together in 2007. Now, this was the first time I ever really heard their music (much to the amazement of the people I went with) and I was blown away. Just such amazing tracks and really pumped up the crowd. Check out this video of them dropping Above & Beyond’s “Sun and Moon”

Then Dash Berlin came out and it was pure pandemonium. This was part of his #musicislife tour supporting his #musicislife album, so that was the vast majority of what he played. However, he also dropped in some other popular mainstream tracks, such as Red Hot Chili Peppers “By the Way”

What also gave this show a very unique dimension was John Mendolsohn singing live. Mendolsohn is a NYC native who is featured on two of Dash Berlin’s biggest hits; “World Falls Apart” and “Better Half of Me”. And he absolutely killed it singing “World Falls Apart” live:

From left to right: Friend to CMB Jon Carrado, Dash Berlin’s live vocalist Jon Mendelsohn, CMB writer Greg Fingerhut (me)

On our way out of the show, we bumped into Mendolsohn and he was thrilled to take a picture, even when we had to take it a bunch of times because the lighting was messed up the first couple of times. He definitely seemed not used to people coming up and asking him for pictures, with his friends even joking with him about how he’s “becoming famous”. If he continually featured on Dash Berlin’s biggest tracks, he just might be.

As far as the overall concert, I thought it was absolutely amazing. The energy was amazing and every artist really brought their all and the crowd loved it. One of those shows that makes you realize just how good live EDM music can be, especially Trance.