Armin Van Buuren At Sacramento's "Empire" Nightclub

Left: Armin Van Buuren starts his set.

With resignation, I accepted that accepting dinner at Sally's Sunday evening meant that I couldn't go to see famed DJ Armin Van Buuren at Empire, but one of the oddities of the end of daylight savings time was that it felt late even though the clock said it was early. So, I left Sally's at what seemed like a late hour according to the body's circadian clock, but I was still able to make it to Empire on-time and catch the show!

Trying to get the technology going....


The human heart as a V-8 internal combustion engine. Nice!

Bedazzled!

The view from above.

This cross-like stance was characteristic for Armin Van Buuren (granted, over the din it's hard for the DJ to communicate with the audience, but Van Buuren consciously chose religious symbology, and the theme of love, for his message). With his projections he seemed to be emphasizing something called UR (an acronym for Universal Religion), Chapter 4. Discotheques are 'sonic cathedrals' and it's hardly surprising, with all the accolades that they get and the energy they summon, that DJs feel in-touch with something deeper - something truly religious. They don't call it 'Trance' for nothing!

Visible in this photo is one of the go-go dancer cages at Empire. Early in the evening, I saw two women in the club with heads covered - Muslim women, evidently. Later in the evening, I saw one of the women dancing in a go-go dancer's cage, with head still covered, of course. Now THAT I've never seen before! Interesting night!

I was surprised, given the concrete tilt-up nature of the nightclub, that the evening wasn't louder. When DJ Tiesto was in town, the volume was so loud that the hairs jumped on your arms and made your skin feel like it was crawling with beetles. I didn't get that feeling Sunday night.

I learned some surprising things about the Empire nightclub. At one point, a drop of water hit my forearm. I eventually realized that water was condensing on the air conditioning conduits above and dripping onto the floor (and people) below. It's hard to tell what was more unbelievable: that it was so humid, or that the conduits were so cold that condensation would occur.

At one point, I realized that my zipper was down. No second chance to make a first impression, as they say! Here is a bit of my own video:




Here is one of Armin Van Buuren's recent music videos, with some Australian and New Zealand footage, for local color.




The best part of Armin Van Buuren's show was the karaoke-style sing-along for Oceanlab's "On A Good Day". Wonderful choice! Here is the official video assembled from submittals from Oceanlab's fans:



And the lyrics, of course:

Little bit lost and...
A little bit lonely
Little bit cold here
A little bit feared

But I hold on
And I Feel strong
And I Know that I can
Getting used to it
Lit the fuse to it
Like to know who I am

Been talking to myself forever, yeah
And how I wish I knew me better, yeah
Still sitting on a shelf and never
Never seen the sun shine brighter
And it feels like me On a good day
And it feels like me On a good day

I'm a little bit hemmed in
A little bit isolated
A little bit hopeful
A little bit cold

But I hold on
And I Feel strong
And I Know that I can
Getting used to it
Lit the fuse to it
Like to know who I am

Been talking to myself forever, yeah
And how I wish I knew me better, yeah
Still sitting on a shelf and never
Never seen the sun shine brighter...
And it feels like me
On a good day

Been talking to myself forever, yeah
And how I wish I knew me better, yeah
Still sitting on a shelf and never
Never seen the sun shine brighter
And it feels like me
On a good day