Anjunabeats Brought All-Star Label Talent to the Hangar in Brooklyn

A stacked Anjunabeats lineup, and special guests Myon & Shane 54 and Seven Lions put on an explosive night in New York City.

The Anjunabeats Tour came to Brooklyn this past week on January 29, with one of the most stacked lineups of the whole run of North American shows. The Brooklyn Hangar, site of the NYE Jukely Party featuring Justice, was once again needed to carry out a grand event. The whole Anjuna-gang came to Brooklyn: Grum, Andrew Bayer, ilan Bluestone, and Jason Ross. With the special guests veteran duo Myon & Shane 54 and Anjuna favorite Seven Lions being added to the warehouse party, you had five hours of anjunatrance goodness, with a twist from each artist. A completely sold out show had fans and Jukely members crowding the gates anxious to get in the bustling rave.

The newest member of the Anjunabeats family, Grum, was assigned with the task of warming up the crowd for the rest of his fellow tourmates. He signed with Anjunabeats back in May 2015, premiering his single “U” alongside Dancing Astronaut. Since then he’s toured with Above & Beyond all across the world, including an invite to play at the prestigious ABGT150 in Sydney, Australia. Grum has developed his own unique trance sound you’d be familiar with on the Anjunabeats label, but with a slightly darker/progressive touch to it.

His last year was nothing but phenomenal, proving himself by passing test after test on some of the world’s biggest stages. His performance in Brooklyn seemed perfectly in place with the brick warehouse walls and minimal lighting/display behind him. The crowd was scarce in the beginning of his set, however by the time he was finished the very back of the warehouse was the only section which had any type of movable space. His Anjunabeats single “First Contact” epitomized what the proper warm up song for the night could’ve been. The energy began to rise as Grum wound up the crowd steadily.

Andrew Bayer graced listeners with his ‘Do Androids Dream’ EP in 2015, receiving multiple week after week spins on the weekly radio show Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy. The D.C. native has been with the Anjunadeep/Anjunabeats labels for well over five years, helping shape the artists he is to this day. Although Andrew Bayer is one of the more diverse artists out there, releasing the experimental album If It Were You, We’d Never Leave in 2013, his music was the perfect hard-hitting trance the fans were looking to really dig into.

Early on Andrew Bayer gave fans exactly what they wanted, dropping the tune everyone knows “England. ” With such a collection of classic Anjunabeats hit, Bayer had enough ammo to last him several sets over. Of course an Anjunabeats show wouldn’t be complete without a spin of the Above & Beyond original “Sun and Moon.” Andrew Bayer linked this up with his own emotional laden track “Super Human” to round out his performance for the night. Leaving the crowd in a heightened state of excitement, the seasoned producer had thoroughly opened up the warehouse party.

The love for Above & Beyond was a continuous theme all night, as you’d expect in their absence of the Anjunabeats Tour. ilan Bluestone hit the stage and was set on taking all the build up Bayer and Grum had conjured and raising it one more level. The 2015 long awaited Above & Beyond remix to “Salva Mea 2.0,” had cracked the crowd wide open with it’s thundering build up that ignited a “woo woo” chant. Following up with more Grammy nominated Above & Beyond material, was the settling “Peace of Mind” which had the whole crowd singing once again.

ilan Bluestone wasn’t short on his own material blaring the classic “Spheres” which had every single attendee moving uncontrollably. At this moment with the atmosphere of the crowd, blinding flashing lights, and ruggedness of the warehouse you felt completely submerged in a separate world.

A break from the Anjunabeats team opened up the next two hours for the guests Seven Lions and Myon & Shane 54. Both have very similar sounds and styles to the Anjunabeats gang. They’re both frequent guests on Above & Beyond Group Therapy, and have supplied multiple remixes to Anjunabeats material.

Seven Lions was up first and by far put on the most diverse set of the night. Immediately dropping new material in the beginning of his set, revealing a dreamy trance buildup, female vocals, and a soul touching bass filled drop. An ID we here at Nocturnal Times will be waiting impatiently for. He wasn’t done dropping new material there, Seven Lions also threw in a never before heard 138 track with some mind altering sacred geometry as the background visual. It was a delicious combination of mind-racing melodies and rapid moving psychedelics.

One of the first tracks to get Seven Lions on the map, his bass glorified “You Gotta Go” remix, rubbed the anjuna-crowd well mixing heavy bass music with the trance sounds of Anjunabeats. Perhaps one of the most visually pleasing moments of the night came when he dropped his “Satellite” remix with intergalactic visuals in the background, a perfect mesh.

Myon and Shane 54 finally took to the stage at approximately 3:00am. The Hungarian duo are no stranger to good music and date back to a time before Twitter famous artists, and the era of internet blogs. They still are relatively low-key in regards to their social media interaction, as they like to let their music and performances do a lot of the talking.

Myon and Shane 54 took advantage of the late night spotlight and took their set in a dark direction. Above & Beyond’s “Blue Monday” remix by New Order, originally dropped at ABGT50 in London, gave everyone a bit of nostalgia in the beginning of their set. The 1980s vocals played with the modern twist had the crowd bobbing in the later hours of the night. The outdated tune might’ve not been sing-a-long material for everyone, but once they dropped their “Summer of Love” track the whole crowd rang back “will you remember, will you remember me.”

Myon and Shane 54 continued to use classic throwback tracks to garner the attention of the warehouse playing Daft Punks “One More Time.” A good combination of both old and new tracks, Myon and Shane 54 executed a vintage set while keeping the crowd engaged.

The last set of the night honors were given to Jason Ross. One of the newer members of Anjunabeats, he has represented the label name many times before. He’s done various Anjunabeats Worldwide mixes, and a plethora of juicy remixes to Above & Beyond releases. His set wasn’t for the faint-hearted, as he had no intentions of slowing down the party being the last man to go up on the stage at 4am.

Instead Jason Ross took advantage and saw it as an opportunity to take control and send the crowd off with nothing left to give. He played his drum clapping “Elements” sending the last of the late night warriors into a frenzy. His newest release “Frontier” produced by himself and Wrechiski, made an appearance and was quite a delight to experience live. It was a good up-beat track to wrap up a night of superior musical performances.

Nights in Brooklyn last until the early morning hours, and it was a special treat to be able to enjoy the Anjunabeats team and guests for the lengthy performance. The collective efforts of newcomers Grum and Jason Ross solidified that Anjunabeats will be in safe hands in the future. The veteran performances by Andrew Bayer and Myon and Shane 54 also reminded us exactly why we love the music we do.

The crowd was very interactive joining in on the performances on multiple occasions, with the artists playing to our exact needs. Anjunabeats wasn’t kidding when they said they were bringing the country’s biggest tour to date, and capitalized on the underground setting in the early morning venue that night.

For more information on Anjunabeats, visit anjunabeats.com.