Concert Report: Above & Beyond (Orlando Amphitheater)

We had not been out to the Central Florida Fairgrounds since June when we checked-out the Forbidden Kingdom Music Festival. There would be zero Dubstep last night, thankfully.

We arrived early and the bars were already open.

There were a number of food vendors on site too.

The Above & Beyond logo store was doing a brisk business.

Often the main stage at music festivals that take place here, last night the Orlando Amphitheater was the only stage in operation.

Because Above & Beyond would be playing.

The show was supposed to begin at 7PM and right at 7PM, it did begin!

The opener was DJ Rezident (D).

His set was mostly Chill House, much of it with vocals. A good way to crank up the night. DJ Rezident is based in Berlin.

Crowd beginning to build. We had a few rain sprinkles early but that went away quickly and left us with a dry albeit humid evening.

Spotted on the dance floor: DJ David Z (USA) from Orlando City Soccer with his daughter.

Kandi exchange.

The Orlando Amphitheater includes not only this paved dance floor up front but a raised grassy knoll to the rear. Both would get jammed.

The chit chat where we were standing was whether the opener would play until 8PM or 8:30PM. Everyone was wrong as he only played until 7:50PM when the next opener took over.

One half of DJ duo Aname (S).

 

Day would turn into night during his set.

Nowhere near as crowded as EDC but pretty jammed.

People as far as the eye could see!

His set was mostly on the House side with a bit of Trance at times. His remix of "Rapture" was great.

There was then a five minute or so break as the front table where the first two DJ's had played from was pushed out of the way, revealing this raised stage to the rear.

And then just before 9PM, there they were, the headliners.....Above & Beyond (GB).

Above & Beyond is a DJ trio but you normally just get two of them. And since Tony had hosted their "Group Therapy" radio show from London the night before, we got the other two: Paavo & Jono.

It's an Above & Beyond tradition to post messages on the rear board. Some include song titles, some include inspirational messages, some say thanks!

It's against our Blog rules to post a pic of myself in an article but we had to make an exception for this crowd photo!

Early songs included this year's "Start A Fire", "Alone Tonight" and "Carry Me Home".

New trend? Someone began rolling out paper towels and it went across the entire dance floor! Had not seen that previously.

We last saw Above & Beyond when they played at EDC-Orlando in 2021. We got Paavo and Tony that show.

We also got to meet Paavo & Tony at their show at Place Bell in Montreal in 2018 during their "Common Ground" tour.

And a year earlier during Miami Music Week, Jono & Paavo at the Sirius/XM Music Lounge.

Thanking Orlando for coming out. A&B plays in Atlanta tonight and tomorrow night in Hollywood, FL.

Around 10:30PM a group of Security guards appeared in front of us and began pulling audience members over the barrier into the pit and hauling them away. It initially appeared to be an ICE raid but no, they got to go up on stage and dance with the DJ's to one of the songs!

Grammy-nominated "We Are All We Need". Like all great Trance songs, a wonderful build-up and crash plus in this one, the haunting female vocals of  Zoë Johnston (GB).

Other later songs in the set included "Quicksand (Don't Go)" and "Thing Called Love".

A great show at the Amp and a good time was had by all.