Early 2000s trance.
The short answer
Early 2000s trance was the peak and the last chapter of the classic era. Dutch DJs like Tiësto, Ferry Corsten and Armin van Buuren became headliners, Armin's A State Of Trance radio show began in 2001, and records like Delerium's 'Silence' (Tiësto remix) and Tiësto's 'Adagio For Strings' filled clubs. By the middle of the decade the sound was splitting into harder and more electro styles.
Records
Key early 2000s trance records.
- Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan – Silence (Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise Remix) (2000, 138 BPM)
- Motorcycle – As The Rush Comes (Gabriel & Dresden Sweeping Strings Mix) (2003, 135 BPM)
- Tiësto – Adagio For Strings (2005, 140 BPM)
Year by year
What happened, 2000–2005.
2000
In Search Of Sunrise formalised · Anjunabeats launches · Perfecto Presents Another World
Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise compilation series settles into a yearly rhythm on Black Hole, codifying the vocabulary of sunset and vocal-progressive trance. Above & Beyond found Anjunabeats — the label that will out-last most of its peers by putting songwriting and long-term artist development first. Paul Oakenfold releases Perfecto Presents… Another World, the double-CD that becomes the Perfecto sound's most-circulated single artefact.
2001
A State Of Trance begins · Faithless Renaissance
Armin van Buuren launches ASOT as a modest weekly Dutch radio show in May (episode one aired on 18 May 2001, per DJ Mag). It becomes the genre's central institution and never stops. In the UK, superclub residencies at Cream, Gatecrasher, Godskitchen and The End are at their commercial peak.
2002
Gatecrasher and Cream at peak · Adagio in the wild
The UK superclub circuit hits maximum scale. Trance is arena music now — three-thousand-capacity residencies weekly, headline slots at every festival. Tastexperience's 'Highlander' becomes a Black Hole flagship. Tiësto begins previewing 'Adagio For Strings' in his sets, over a year before its official release. Paul Oakenfold releases the Bunkka artist album on Maverick and scores the Swordfish soundtrack — the first classic-trance DJ to write for a Hollywood studio picture.
2003
Vocal trance crosses over
ATB, Ian Van Dahl, Delerium and the Tiësto Silence remix dominate mainstream European radio. Vocal trance briefly becomes pop music. Tiësto plays a solo full-arena show at Gelredome Arnhem in front of 25,000 people — the first electronic DJ to headline a stadium of that scale in the Netherlands.
2004
Tiësto opens the Athens Olympics
Tiësto performs during the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games on 13 August, broadcast to a global television audience estimated at four billion people. Classic trance officially owns the global mainstream — for one summer, at least. Paul Oakenfold plays the Great Wall of China, one of the era's most-photographed DJ sets, and releases Creamfields on Perfecto.
2005
Adagio For Strings released · the pivot begins
Tiësto's 'Adagio For Strings' is released on Black Hole/Magik Muzik — the last unambiguous classic-trance mega-anthem before the genre's commercial centre of gravity begins to move toward electro-house. Bonzai winds down its main label. The classic era does not so much end as diffuse.
Frequently asked
What did trance sound like in the early 2000s?
Bigger and brighter than the 90s: long breakdowns, layered supersaw leads, more vocal tracks and tempos around 136–140 BPM for uplifting records.
Who were the biggest trance DJs of the early 2000s?
Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Paul van Dyk and Paul Oakenfold were among the best known. The best trance DJs page covers them in detail.