With less than a day to pack/unpack after EDC Vegas, and fix my new LED outfit which has plusses, but it's unfortunately more fragile and needs more maintenance, I barely made it to a plane to Frankfurt and then Malta to arrive half way through Day 0 of Euphoria Malta's 6 days of Trance! I can't say I was super awake, or that I stayed until the end that first night, but I was glad I at least made it this year :)

How is Euphoria different? It's actually a small festival in size, and purposely so. It's meant to be affordable, and to focus on trance music and fun. There is no VIP, no backstage, and DJs, when not on the decks, are part of the crowd and the party. What else can you ask for? This is the lumi from 10 years ago, before it got too big, and that I never got to attend before it was too late and become what is is now. While I don't have a time machine, and I did ask Craig Conelly :) to go back and experience these nice and small lumis, I don't need one anymore, because Euphoria is where it's at, except with much more lovely people running it.
Now, the DJs are DJs that don't play the big stages every day, they probably don't get paid loads, which in turn allows keeping the event affordable without big crowds, which honestly made for a great experience. I've even got to meet some I had listened to for years, but never seen in person, that was just plain awesome.
And because it was basically a big family party, there is no ridiculous bar fight bouncer security like the place you know, although if you wanted to get your genitals groped at the entrance, I'm so sorry, but Euphoria will not be the place for you :) All the clubs were super nice, and the security folks there to make sure everything went well, not to harass customers. Best case scenario.

So, like I mentioned last year after going to Rong and then Captured Malta, I took a chance a wrote a comparison of all 3 festivals, even if I hadn't been able to go to Euphoria. You can go here for that malta trance festival comparison and I am happy to see that my review of Euphoria was actually pretty on point before even having had the chance to go. You can go visit the page, but the relevant bit, I'll paste here:
"Euphoria Festival Malta is indeed the cheapest and most grass roots of the 3, if it weren't just a few days after EDC and I could have attended, I'm pretty sure it's similar to Anomaly Summer of Trance in feel, just without the 4 stages from ASOL: smaller festival feel, more chance to chat with and meet the DJs, and so forth. The DJs will be less mainstage big festival DJs, but that's also a good thing in many ways, and I really mean this: I've attended lots of big festivals with the big name DJs, I do absolutely enjoy them, but it's really a nice and a breath of fresh air to enjoy smaller festivals that simply have more of a family and friends feel and where you're going to get real trance (more techno and hardstyle in the bigger trance festivals this year). I hope I didn't screw this description since indeed I wanted to attend, but just couldn't"
The one thing I missed is how many hours of lovely trance Euphoria actually had. 68!!! That is a winner right then, and as I properly guessed, no techno or hardstyle being pushed everywhere, sooo nice.

Day #0 Preparty, Zion Bar

this is why we come :)

PLUR, the European way :)

Day #1, Beachaven

Day 1 Video Summary:

Eventually, sun came down and we partied outside a bit longer before having to go indoors:

Day #2, Beachaven

We got an absolutely lovely 5H thrillseeker set

we got to chat afterwards

Then more partying indoors:

Thillseekers (partial set):

Day 2 Video Summary:

Day #3, Gianpula Phoenix Club

they were already getting ready for Captured in Sept (will be back for that)

surprise Lost Emotions b2b Xijaro and Pitch

and Marcella Woods was awesome, first time I got to see her

Day 3 Video Summary:

Marcella Woods (full set):

Day #4, Liquid Club Malta

haha, I love this shirt :)

Day 4 Video Summary:

Day #5, Gianpula Rooftop

Sunset was beautiful from up there:

And a bit after midnight was it for Day 5 (really day 6). That was a lot! I think I managed to do 60 hours of trance out of 68h available over 6 days. Wee! Anyone who has not done this probably cannot comprehend how many 6 days is and how exhausting it is (in a good way, haha). Definitely worth experiencing.

Day 5 Video Summary:

The People

As I mentioned earlier, one great thing at Euphoria is that you can meet the DJs and chat with them every day:

Steve!

Andrea!

David Forbes was surprised to see me again after 5 days :)

First time meeting Ronski Speed!

Marcella Woods, so great to see her perform

Mark Sherry

Darren Tate

Should you go? Would I go Back?

And lumi, well, if you've read past reports, you already know how I unfortunately have to feel about it (if not, you can find that in the previous posts). While I'm glad I got there in 2019, even though by then it was already feeling a bit too big, I feel like it lost its family feel quite a while ago given its current size, and honestly I don't need festivals to play 4 or more trance DJs at the same time (and that comment is also true for dreamstate socal), so it was really nice to only have 1 or 2 stages at most at Euphoria and not have to stage hop or agonize that much.
Since I'll always regret never having been to Lumi 10 years ago when it was nice and small, it was actually fantastic to be able to experience this with Euphoria, and really I have to repeat how nice it was to have a festival where we were all one, no VIP, no backstage passes, and DJs coming to party with us and chat and have fun!
Also, while I enjoyed Captured festival last sept, the weather was pretty brutal (Thailand like hot and humid). Euphoria was nice and cool in May, even during the day, that was a true pleasure.
Now, if you're in Asia and february is not the month you're gone snowboarding, Unkonscious is still a very clear choice and another great way to spend 6 days with trance. If you're in Europe or Europe is closer, then Euphoria is clearly a great choice. And if you're just that dedicated, you can go to both of course :)

Now, the hard question is should Euphoria grow to allow more trance lovers to experience it without losing what makes it special? This is a tough question, and I'm not sure I have the magic answer to it. But the fact the organizers are so nice and dedicated to the event, I'm confident whatever they decide, Euphoria will remain a great place to go.

Euphoria was absolutely a unique event (and I mean that in a very good way :) ), and I'm so happy I managed to drag my butt there, this year.

As for the "will I go back?". Honestly I really want to. I'm not going to lie that going 24H after EDC Vegas was brutal, EDC really wipes you and it's another multi flight 16H trip which I can't do in coach and survive, so it was expensive. I'm super happy I did it though, and hope I can do it again. Also, I have to admit I also had a great time at Rong Malta which is 2 weeks prior, even though it's a bigger more mainstream festival, but also with lots of trance, and it's not reasonable to go to both plus EDC in the middle, so I'll have to pick 2 out of 3 no matter what. Decision, decisions :)
But for people with fewer life problems than me, haha, absolutely, please go and be part the family!

Huge thanks to Rich and Steve and all the DJs who played for us:

it's not enough to run the event, he also DJed multiple sets!

Links:

Getting to the welcome point was a bit tricky since it was a fair distance from the rideshare dropoff and the normal EDC shuttles would not get you there in time, but we made it and were eventually welcomed:

made it! (18:25 to be precise)

Given the pricetag, I should give the menu. They did absolutely deliver on what was promised, but indeed I was hoping for a bit more food given the price :)

first serving

second serving

One thing that was above expectation were the performers who entertained us. There were plenty and they did a great job:

The price did include all you can drink, alcohol :)

While enjoying desert on the 2nd floor, the next people were in line, and that was also our exit towards wasteland:

So there you go, hope it helps you decide, I'd say it was a good experience overall, but somewhat pricey.

This was my 10th EDC Vegas, time flies! And in these 10 years, EDC has become bigger every year, to the point that the 2026 edition fully sold out in less than 3 days. I'm not going to repeat what I already wrote in the previous EDCs I've been to, except that this year again, they've done a good job mixing things around and keeping things fresh.
The one thing I have to mention for trance lovers, is that in the last years, it's been clear that Trance has been shrinking slowly world wide. This is to the point that it's gone from Untold, which had the best Trance lineup of any mainstream festival, it stopped being relevant there several years back at Tomorrowland, and when I went to Parookaville, there wasn't much trance either. The list goes on...
So, even I'm a bit stuck on classic trance and I'm a bit sad to see it slowly disappear from many festivals, it wasn't very surprising that similar things are happening at EDC. Last year was the first time that the 3 days of classic Trance at Quantum Valley, were dropped to 2, and this year, depending on how you count, there was maybe 1-1.5 day combined (although day 1 did have half a day of lovely psytrance, which I believe is new). So yeah, we're not getting the 3 days of non stop Trance at Quantum Valley anymore, but Dreamstate is still a thing, just with evolving sounds, some are classic trance, some are psytrance, and newer sounds like Maddix. Also, let's keep in mind that:

So while it's evolving and it doesn't have the 3 days of classic trance at QV anymore, there was plenty of other music to check out, which is not a bad thing actually, that's my best place to check out other EDM genres in one location, and for the mere wow factor and spectable, I'll repeat that EDC is the best night festival in the world.

This year, as something new, I tried the Salvage City Supper Club that was located by Wasteland. It was an interesting idea and fun, but ultimately it felt somewhat expensive for the end experience and food. But if money is no issue, definitely worth giving it a shot. Read up on more Salvage City Supper Club here

The Grounds:

The insomniac folks aren't lazy, they come up with different stage designs every year. Here are some pictures from this year:

Of course, lots of fun areas to visit, especially in the VIP areas:

trinket trade got way too popular since last year :)

the VIP concierge area at Kinetic field was way too crowded

Kandi stations and Casino:

kandi stations

kandi casino was even more popular this year!

Passport was nicely setup like each year:

And because people get confused when they see this picture, this is not VIP but Skydeck, an uber VIP for people with too much money and trying to find creative ways to spend it :)

And all the lit up areas of course:

enjoying the new downtown EDC

Pixel Forest was moved this year and looked different:

A few vendors, like every year:

EDC still has the most rides of any festival I've been to. Fun!

And the many side quests:

Elevated views are of course very enjoyable:

Other views:

Fireworks and Drones

The fireworks were great like every year:

Day 1 Fireworks:

Day 2 Fireworks:

The People

this looked not comfortable to walk in, dedication :)

winning totem :)

bad ass!/

haha :)

funny, we found the same animation independently ;)

this is the way!

And we did our usual Trancefamily SF meetup:

The Insomniac Entertainers were great, as always:

And of course, it's always a good excuse to take pictures with friends ;)

Thor!

more LEDs!

And DJs :)

David Forbes

Paul was still amused ;)

Yoji, still being funny ;)

I was ready for Ben Nicky this time around ;)

The Maddix b2b Ben Nicky was epic!

First time seeing James Hype!

And as always, many picture opportunities:

the bees were overachieving :)

Day #1

Video Summary:

Day 1 Fireworks:

Day #2

Unfortunately, right after Miyuki's set, the wind picked up and Quantum Valley was somehow not built in a wind resistant way, which was slightly puzzling given that high winds have been semi frequent at EDC. As a result, QV was shut down for multiple hours, and we unfortunately missed a few sets as a result:

But other stages kept going:

thankfully QV was reopened later that night, in time for Maddix B2B Ben Nicky

Finished the night with TDJ at Bionic Jungle

Video Summary:

Day 2 Fireworks:

Day #3

One more night, night 3!

le youth, I had never heard before, interesting dreamy set

then, more techno with Miss Monique

Then came time for Armin at Kinetic Fields:

got a good spot, right in front of the uber VIP skydeck (the ones with the half million packages)

Back to Quantum Valley:

And then it was time to end the night with Tiesto's In Search of Sunrise Trance Set!

sunrise coming

And just like that, after a beautiful sunrise with Tiesto, the 3 days were over:

Video Summary:

Should you go? Would I go Back?

At this point, note that the text below is mostly the same as last years, since it's still valid :)

EDC Vegas is probably the most impressive EDM Night Festival in the world. Tomorrowland is a rival but it's not a night festival as more challenges I'm not as much a fan of (never mind of course the distance for me or the fact that you mostly can't buy tomorrowland tickets, while you can for EDC, although as of 2025 you have to be fast since they sold out in 3 days).

Like previous times:

Conclusion/Other thoughts

Thoughts about this year:

first it was password incorrect

and then this for most of the time

also this

Thank you to everyone at the insomniac team, all the performers, all the volunteers who put so much effort into making so many details right all over the place, with the great result that we all got to enjoy..

much love to our insomniac entertainers

So long, see you next time!

But those repots are only worth the time I take to write them (sometimes more than one day of work for some of them), if people can find and read them. In the old days I could just post them on facebook, or people would even find them with a google search. Nowadays, things are very different and Facebook does their best so that any post with external links are viewed by as few people as possible since they do not control external sites and want to keep their product (i.e. the users) locked in their site so that they can continue to feed them lying ads, fake AI videos and posts, and the other crap that is now all over FB.

Instagram is not better, although they make things worse by not even really allowing any links in posts, so that takes care of that problem.

So, how do you, my dear reader, find my new posts if both FB and IG have a vested interest in you never seeing them?

The best 3 ways to get future posts/festival reports:

For real time stories and posts from festivals and to follow/friend/DM me, FB and IG are still best, and you should follow both if you can, but expect that FB will make it hard for you to actually see my blog posts, while IG only allows me to make links you can't click on, so you have to cut and paste them.

If you have an RSS reader or you're just happy to reload a web page on occasion:

Hope this helps. For bonus points, you can even subscribe to multiple of them :)

so glad to see the ever cheerful and colorful insomniac entertainers

and we had a meetup with the international EDC crew :)

The Grounds... How was EDC in Asia and how does it compare with EDCLV, EDCMX, and EDC Orlando?

Footprint-wise, the event was pretty big, but it also had some dead space in the middle and hills that were a bit of a pain to navigate. The ground was also uneven and somehow wet in places despite no rain, that was a bit weird. But we got the stages we are used to, and they were top notch.

beautiful

It wasn't the plan, but this ended up not only being the coldest EDC I've been to, but flat out the coldest festival I've been to, and that includes some cold EDC Vegas nights as well as cold Dreamstate San Bernardino nights. It was around 10C, but the wind was relentless and windchill made it feel freezing or below freezing. On day 2, I came with a full sweater and basically 3 layers on the top and I was still kind of cold. I was also wearing a ski hat below my dreamstate LED hat, and gloves. It was that cold, really.

The painful cold did not ruin our party spirits though, people soldiered on :) And double thumbs up to all the insomniac entertainers wearing those colorful outfits that did not seem that warm, and somehow surviving through those cold nights. That was some serious dedication!

how on earth did they survive, wearing this?

The Merch store lost an opportunity to sell over a thousand sweatshirts. They ran out quickly :)

that was the shortest the line ever was, it got much much longer later

There was one combined beauty/kandi station:

felt a bit weird that they were combined :)

And then there was this. Lost in translation? haha :)

There was a pretty big skydeck, I'm not sure how occupied it got, but it looked fairly nice. It was only for mainstage:

Of course a big plus of EDC is all the pretty lights. and the insomniac crew did a good job bringing a nice pixel forest to the venue:

the fire from the statue was a good place to be a big warmer in the siberia-like cold :)

And of course the were more lights:

The nearby Inspire hotel had its own:

And the fun thing was that we were a stone's throw (almost) from Seoul/Incheon International Airport, where I flew out of the next day back to SFO, but the planes were not landing over the festival, so you could not hear them and they were barely noticeable. except maybe to the pilot geeks like me :)

EDM Lovers in Korea and Asia

But the crowds that did come were dedicated. There were a good amount of professional kandi traders who made the event even more fun, and enough people who came with cool costumes despite the cold. Thanks to all of you.

Some professional Kandi traders :)

Plus a few pictures with friends:

Blaztoyz!

PvD!

G.O.

Marlo

The 2 days of festival

The first day, I opened the window of the hotel and thought "mmmmh, it's a bit cold, I'll put an extra layer between my t-shirt and my LED shirt (in blue in this picture):

Kataklops!

OMG, what a mistake in planning. Yeah, 10C is already cold but that not account for the siberian wind that brought the wind chill level to below freezing. I'm not going to lie, I was cold and uncomfortable the entire first day. So on Day #2, I came with a full sweater as my 3rd in between layer, a ski hat below my LED hat, and gloves. Well, even with all of that I was still kind of cold, but less uncomfortable at least:

Anyway, here are some pictures from both days:

Day 2 was trance day at Stereo Bloom:

great trance from Casepeat

and my friend Kataploks

Giuseppe Ottaviani

Paul Van Dyk

Marlo

A bit of bass at Circuit Grounds:

And what's a better way to end the night than with Blastoyz?

Because the taxi/rideshare situation, was iffy, at best, I left a tiny bit early right after Blastoyz's set, and barely got a glimpse of the very legit fireworks to close the show at mainstage. They were pretty. Too bad they were so late:

Video Summary of Day 2:

Thought/Impressions/Suggestions/Conclusion

In somewhat random order:

Now, was this EDC remotely close to EDC Vegas? Of course not, nothing is. Even EDC Mexico definitely felt bigger and better if you wanted to travel to another EDC outside of the Vegas one, but EDC Korea still went well and was lots of fun outside of the cold. If you're in Asia or it's an easy flight, EDC Korea definitely is worth going to. If it's not an easy flight but you wanted an excuse to go visit Korea, which is very much worth visiting (that was my case), it's also a very good reason to go. The koreans at EDC were all lovely and fun to be with (as opposed to my recent report on Ultra Miami where PLUR was somewhat lacking, for instance).

Thanks to everyone who welcomed us (both the local korean trance family and EDM lovers, and the insomniac crews and entertainers)!

Links

It was a very welcome Trancefamily SF Reunion:

David and Sony both got to open the vision stage, congratulations!

Welcome back to SF, we missed you!

Back to DS, each time there is a new venue, we always get to wonder how good it will be and what the setup will look like, and I'm happy to report that the production level was the best we've had in SF, bar none! The insomniac folks continue to be overachievers, and the dream stage was absolutely wonderful. Even the smaller vision stage had very nice lighting and lasers:

And vision was cool too:

Thanks to the magicians in the dark who made all the lights, happen

The lineup had more DJs that were lesser known to me, which is not a bad thing per se, although many played too much techno for my taste, with a few hours slots where both Vision and Dream had techno, and that was not my favorite, obviously, but clearly most of the crowd seemed happy with it, so I guess that works out (and as I've written before in my last reports, techno has been creeping in everywhere, even in what used to be a State of Trance).

Day 1

Day 1 Summary:

Day 2

of course, went to support our local boy, Sony ;)

The show (lighting and lasers) for Armin was outstanding:

Ilan proposed on stage, she said yes ;)

Day 2 Summary:

People

meetup day 1

meetup day 2

yes to people who brought LEDs!

someone stole my hat :)

Had fun taking pictures with my new and improved LED outfit freshly built for the event :)

I was ready for Anthony, this time :)

ulrich!

Kim, our former TFSF marketing lead

2 for the price of one :)

but we did better later

Triode!

then had fun with Yoji-San :)

that was his idea, brilliant ;)

Thoughts/Conclusions

Of course, nothing is ever perfect, especially in a new venue. Things I noticed:

Links

And that was it, 2 days of joy with extended times until 03:00, lots of fun, thank YOU!

Before I start, I fully expect some who mostly, or only goes to Ultra to want to tell me how wrong I am, but if so, can I invite you to look at my other festival reports and try other festivals like EDC Vegas or Beyond Wonderland Socal, or Dreamstate Socal, and then come back and tell me what you think? And if you have been to many other festivals (good for you), if you feel my review is blatantly unfair or incorrect, please send me feedback (DM on FB or IG) and I will definitely hear what you have to say as well as take fixes/corrections.

Let's mix things up for fun and start with the end :) So, let's start with the end ;)

Should you go, Would I go back?

oh, did I saw $1000 for VIP? It was actually between $1500 and $2000, a complete joke

just to show I'm not joking, notice the hole at 1750 after Morten, that's where Armin was...

always good to make friends :)

but earlier that day, I really struggled to fix my brand new LED outfit without my tools. Not fun...

But yeah, unless you live in Miami, you should go to Beyond Wonderland instead, it's not even close ;) (hell, even if you live in Miami, unless you can't fly, you really should consider Beyond, it's so much better on about all levels). And seriously, if you don't find $2000 insulting for VIP tickets for an overcrowded show in a small park, I'm not sure what to say...

All that said, let's get back to reviewing the Ultra Festival itself:

Grounds

as mentioned above, getting in sucked. Almost 1h30 in line to get through security, unacceptable

finally through, but took so long that we missed the entire first set plus half of Ruben's set

the park is otherwise pretty

it's fun to party in such a location with such a background

People

as I mentioned, Ultra could use more PLUR, but there were still some folks who were wearing fun outfits, and kandi trading opportunities ;)

The Torrential Rain on Day 3

yeah, you don't say...

'friday' was a mistake, it was sunday

that's the amount of water in the air

eventually water got in and was trying to flood the DJ booth

Check out these 3 IG reels:

The rest of Ultra

the ASOT worldwide stage was actually quite decent, but it was sad to arrive 90mn late and miss

missed half of Ruben de Ronde due to the very slow security, but the 2nd half was very enjoyable

Nifra went more into Techno, as she has been doing recently

Miss Monique was playing at the real Techno stage, next door

live stage

then, back for Maddix

the visuals were not bad

ending with a b2b2b

The next day was psytrance day:

unfortunate stage location with trees in front of it

mainstage earlier in the afternoon, was bearable, and honestly the only time it was worth being there. After that, it was so overcrowded that it was unbearable:

randomly found Armin playing at mainstage, which was not announced at all in the android app ("you had one job, ultra...")"

Didn't stay that much longer that evening since security had half my stuff (hundreds of dollars worse) at the gate and were going to leave at 22:30 from what they said, so I left early to get my bag back, but that was a plus since the afterparty at Otra was loads of fun

After the Day 3 rain I described above, many hours later, the rain subsided, but it took a while for the stages to re-open:

We still got a few fireworks at night:

the drone show was not fully visible unless you were at mainstage, which was flooded and crowded

Ended the night with Above and Beyond, but left 15mn before the end to avoid being left with no ride out at all (not enough ubers):

And that qas it for Ultra!

Conclusions/Suggestions

For attendees, as I said before, the obvious answers are to go to Beyond Wonderland Socal and EDC Vegas instead.

But how about WMC, Winter Music Conference

The parties were definitely fun, maybe not flying across the US or the world, for, but if you're already there, absolutely worth going to, and in some ways, they were more enjoyable than UMF itself.

Links

Anyway, flights were booked by the time I found out about the limited hours and downgrade compared to last year, so I went to check it out again. The hightlight as always is to meet all the fellow trance lovers:

nice welcome at the train station

Instead of a long report, which I wrote anyway below, haha, I also had a bit of fun this year, and made this new style summary :)

Thoughts for this year

So, what did I think of this ASOT and ASOT in Ahoy vs ASOT 1000 at Jaarbeurs 2 years ago?

About the stages:

And now let's talk about the music:
ASOT 1000 had a fantastic 20 years of trance 6h set from Armin on day 1, and day 2 had mixed music which sounded more and more techno-like. This year was unfortunately worse (for me at least) as mainstage seemed almost overrun with techno (with a few exceptions like Ruben and Ferry, or the great classics closing set from Superstrings). But the rest at mainstage sounded more like basic EDM, techno, and a set from Armin that went from great trance that made you fly to hard crash landings by mixing hard techno on the next track, and doing that multiple times. I read that some enjoyed that, for my ears and brain, it was honestly much harder to enjoy and disappointing.
It's clear that some people on FB clearly liked the new music, and others did not. I have no idea who is the bigger of the 2 groups and whether my losing team may just be the smallest one, so it's all working as intended, but at the same time I also understand that keeping Trance the same for 20 years+ is not the best idea ever.
I think my request would be to keep at least one stage or 2 with real trance classics and other 2-3 stages including mainstage can play whatever seems to make sense today.

ASOT Day 1

clear signage. I never got to see how long the regular lines were since I went VIP

strangely, the weekend VIP line was the fastest. The hotel package lines were longer and people there were not thrilled

all the staff was nice, kudos to everyone, it really makes a difference

ah yes, Insomniac merged/took over ASOT, no idea how much input they had this year, but I expect they will have more next year

security search felt reasonable although some people said the lines got slow later

Day 1, started with Ruben de Ronde and Ferry Corsten:

Armin took over for a lot of different B2B sets

pretty full for a friday, so should friday only be 6h and not 9h or 12?

one of many B2Bs

stage production had nice lighting

Stage/Area 2 had more real trance, but it was a weird "wide corridor" layout :-//

no VIP area for area 2, which was unfortunate

thankfully Fadi/Aly and Fila played a wonderful set as always

nice to have ferry afterwards

Susana was back!

nice LED walls in stage 2 to make up for the awkward layout

FactorB killed it again

Meanwhile Armin was busy at mainstage with lots of B2Bs and even a new f2f :) It sucked to miss some of FactorB, but it was interesting to see the face2face with Maddix:

Then back to Area 2 to see the end of FactorB:

And then it was over, very early (01:00), so it was time to go to the after party in a small club by the train station. It was better than nothing, but kind of sad to go to a small local club when we should have stayed at Ahoy for another 5h.

nice to see Roman Messer again

oh yeah, almost forgot I was in Holland

and my TFSF Friend Alastair was also there to play

ASOT Day 2

it was very cool to be able to stand behind mainstage

but I went to Area 2 as soon as it opened for Xijaro and Pitch's Anthony

it was a fantastic pure trance set, real joy

yes, it takes a few people to run all this :)

Area 3, which was unused on day 1

later when filled up

Area 4 was also interesting, even if a bit narrow

Area 5 was the most narrow and smallest though

What a shame given the lovely lineup

Ciaran was in there, but was never able to get close enough to see him

Back to Area 2 for Ruben:

then Giuseppe

And it was time for Armin's main set at mainstage:

it was reasonably full but not at capacity

So, for Armin's set, honestly his trying to go back and forth between lovely trance and techno didn't work for me. It took all the flying feelings of trance, and crashed them into a wall when the hard techno got mixed in. This is me though, others have said they enjoyed it, so there you go.

Anyway, at some point I had to leave for Alessandra's set at Area 5, the smallest stage, but it was Alessandra, can't miss her!

she was excited to see us :)

and we got to say hi :)

Once she was done, there was only one hour left, and I had heard good things about superstrings, so back to mainstage. They played a new style of trance similar to what TDJ plays, high energy with an engaging beat but without falling into techno. All the techno is the new trance people, please look at these guys and TDJ, isn't that where you want to go instead to evolve Trance instead of trying to merge it with Techno, which will never work for people like me (and I'm not the only one)?

Yes to VIP behind mainstage :)

And just like this, it was 06:00, the mere 9h were over (could have been 12H had they started at 18:00 like the day before).

shuttle bus back to main station because metro didn't open until one our later

back to the room by sunrise :)

Should ASOT cater more to World Wide Trance Lovers? If so should it conflict with 2 other festivals that same weekend?

Last year, I missed on out on the first real 2 day ASOT ever, the only one! before they went back to 1.5 days :(
And why did I miss it? Because I was at EDC Mexico which was the same weekend and that one was 3 12 hours days with more stages.

Still, my plan was to come back to ASOT this year, but what did ASOT do this year? Not only did it conflict with EDC Mexico where many of my friends went instead (can't blame them, there was much more music there than the 1.5 days of ASOT), and to make things worse, it also conflicted with Trance Unity in Montreal. Triple conflict!!!

Not only did this take attendees away from ASOT, but it also took multiple DJs away, DJs that played at ASOT in the past (although somehow Ferry Corsten and Fadi managed to play at both events, troopers!). Actually Ferry Corsten played at all 3, go Ferry! :)

But seriously people, is this really necessary? EDCMX isn't exactly a trance festival but still has a lot of trance, and Trance Unity, well, is Trance, so did all 3 events need to be the same exact weekend?

That being said, while I missed some amount of friends who were attending one of the other 2 events that weekend, I still got to see some:

Conclusions/Suggestions

My thoughts/improvement suggestions for this year's venue:

the black bit was really not needed

this fence was 1000% unnecessary, making everyone walk around added lots of pointless walking and did not improve any flow. They literally made you walk a long away around to the other side of that same fence, and it was so stupid that all the staff went through the shortcut, but we could not

someone literally stumbled on that same raised step and almost fell in front of me while I was taking this picture

And things I liked:

Here is my video summary:

Watching other videos, I also found out I was randomly visible in a few of them, fun :)

Should you go, Would I go back?

But don't let all this feedback confuse you, although some things can be improved in my opinion, and my feedback is actually in the hopes that some of it does get implemented, and I get to enjoy an even improved ASOT, I did have a great time this time too, it's hard not to :)
A heartfelt thanks to all the crews who put all the work that went into this event for our enjoyment.

Links

And I will end with this (real t-shirt saw at ASOT), haha :)

I used his signup code to thank him for encouraging me to go :) If you like this report and it inspires you to go, or to go again, you can use my signup code for a discount of up to $200: "ledtranceguy"
As I write this, barely a week after the cruise is over, the 2026 cruise is close to being sold out (it felt weird that it went on sale before the 2025 one even left, but now I know why). If you are interested in going, don't delay :)

This looks like the canonical page to sign up for 2026.

Wait, after it being around 20 years, you only went on groovecruise this year for the first time?

I'm on a boat... I'm on a boat... Take a good look at me, I'm on a motherf'ing boat :)

The ship was the 4th largest in existence as of today if I read right, and was pretty impressive. It did lack waterslides, and the kart racing track I saw on some ship commercial ;) but it had:

I'm not that great at it, but I tried :)

good food and presentation

yes, it was legit :)

This is a good time to point out that the Groovecruise team did an amazing job decking out the place and turning a cruiseship into a small city with nightclubs and festival areas. They really went all out, all the way to confetti that had to be cleaned carefully afterwards and even balloon drops. Multiple stages had lasers and cool lighting and overall the sound was good. Given the location and that it had to be installed and torn down in record time because the ship was used for regular cruises just before, and just after, was nothing short of amazing.
The crew was very amused by the GC crowds (who wouldn't), and put up with the decorations people brought from LED walls to a wall of hanging dicks you had to walk through to cross the corridor :)

cabins with view on the promenade

this display was fun to read :)

Boat Policies/security

I was worried about the lack of plugs, but with 2 big multichannel USB chargers (10 and 8 outputs) plus a 4 port one, I was ok :) This also answers the question of how many batteries I use and have to charge (a bit too many, haha):

People

bringing a full LED wall, great job!

and let's not forget the dick wall from deck 14

Kudos to this couple for the fantastic LED costumes:

the same folks again

And then this guy, impressive tech but it must have been fragile and with inadequate batteries because I only saw it once for 20mn or so:

A good amount of nice LED outfits, well done!

Of course, I had fun taking pictures with existing friends and new ones:

as odds are, Daxson was the first person I ran into :)

anjunafam

Nadine and Robert Nickson

of course Thorgodofbass was there, and I was ready for him :)

also ready for Nilsix :)

and great to see Maddix, he said 'you again' :)

had fun with my new hat :)

Groovecruise Days 1-2: Strong Warmup

even when you got inside, and that was after more than 1H wait already, it still took another hour or so

finally upstairs, ready for security and luggage scan

once up things were finally good, but it sucked to have arrived 2h30 early just to wait 2h30 in a slow line to get in

finally!

welcome!

Aqua Theatre

Promenade

Eric Prydz/Pryda

crossdresser lunch

it started raining on day 2, it was nice for lights and lasers

it got pretty

poor Mark Sixma got rained out as the rain became more severe

Labadee, Haiti

While I will note that it felt a bit weird to boat an entire 2 days to get to Labadee, Haiti a mere 4H before the boat had to leave and boat 2 days back to Miami, at the same time I'm sure it would also have been weird at least for some, to be on a boat that went nowhere (it would have been fine by me, haha).
Haiti is a troubled country that is kind on the "do not travel" list, but we went on a private beach in a way that we never really entered the country (so no need for passports and so forth, which was nice). They did a good job sheltering us from all of this, and making it a welcoming party island with some fun rides when we came to visit.

I'll admit that getting up to make it to the island was a tad challenging when you had been partying all night the night before, but we made it :)

welcome!

they had a market but the sellers were way too aggressive, that was a turn off

Zipline:

Rollercoaster:

Beach Party:

The beach party was fun, but way too short (barely 4H)

Groovecruise Days 3-4: Peak Partying

When 6 lions is not enough, and 8 lions is clearly too many, seven lions!

Abraxis with Dimibo and Blastoyz!

then Blastoyz took over

great job with the decors, confetti, lights and pyro!

After good times at Amber Theatre, went to see Daxson on the 8th floor until sunrise. Not much of a trance set, but lots of energy:

Then it was try for sunrise, although it was cloudy:

Day4 started a bit later when you go to bed around 07:30 :) Going to catch lunch somewhere before lunch closed, was work enough :) After that, trance night was by the swimming pool on deck 15, but it was pretty cold and windy as the boat was sailing back towards Miami:

Then back to Amber theatre for some lovely base, DnB, psytrance, and epic B2Bs:

Groovecruise Days 5: Rough Trip Back to Reality

Sadly it didn't matter whether you stayed on the boat (some booked the next cruise to stay), everyone got woken up by a "good morning Vietnam" message from I believe John, who runs GC, and as lovely as the message was, I was so not awake and shaken by the wakeup that I struggled to find any way to turn the room speaker off, and didn't find any.

From there, it was a suite of announcements on how to get off the boat, as soon as possible, while I was struggling to pack and vacate said room as quickly as possible (as it had to be cleaned and made ready for the next trip leaving later that afternoon).

The line out was long but not as bad as the way in (maybe 30mn?) but it was challenging since I opted to drag my full luggage since it was simply not going to be ready that previous night by 22:00, deadline for luggage pickup. On the way out, we had to go through US immigration again, but since they have our IDs and pictures, it was a quick glance at a face recognition camera before being waved through.

I was able to find Adam Scott/Adam Levine to thank him for the great music just before leaving

Thoughts and Conclusions

I'll start with a few random things as a first timer, aka virgin:

Should you go? Would I go Back?

And you're going to ask: Isn't it expensive?

To me, this is not that much more than what I would spend at EDC with VIP tickets + hotel + food and I felt the experience was close enough to VIP like. The crowds were also more mature and more PLUR than the average festival, and that was a good thing to me. Ok, the stages are not to the level of a real EDC or Beyond Wonderland-like festival, but they were good enough for me to have lots of fun.
All in all, I was very satisfied and felt it was well worth the price. Clearly plenty of people seem to agree as more people are going every year and they keep having to migrate to a bigger ship (another bigger one even for next year and this year's was already one of the biggest on the market).

I will leave you with a few links:

See You Next Year?

If you'd like to sign up for next year: canonical page to sign up for 2026. And you get a small extra discount with ledtranceguy