There are two instances the crowd loses it every time Tijs Michiel Verwest aka DJ Tiesto sets out on stage — One, when his electro-house reaches its “hard drops” and two, when he waves the Indian flag, a country that he knows, respects and thinks is pure magic. Ahead of his tour to Hyderabad and Delhi, the 46-year-old Dutch made a pit stop in Bengaluru on Thursday in what can only be described as an unforgettable night of music and memories.
An all-time favourite in India, Tiesto echoes his fans’ sentiments. “India is a magical place and I can’t wait to come back. My fans in India are always happy to see me and I feel the same way about them,” he says about his extended trip all through this month that will also see him perform at Sunburn in Goa and the Enchanted Valley Carnival in Mumbai. The 46-year-old has been on the scene a while and even if he wasn’t a DJ with a net worth of a whopping $105 million, “I would have been working in the record industry as an A&R guy or the CEO at Beatport or iTunes,” says Tiesto, a DJ who might have no time to spend his money now, but candidly talks about his humble beginnings. “I’m quite the mommy’s child – sensitive, emotional and quite the contrary of being ashamed of it. My parents divorced when I was four and my mother raised three of us. At 14, I already had a job to make some extra money. When we went to a Chinese restaurant, then it really was a feat. I think back to those times when now I'm eating in restaurants where, back then, I could only dream of,” says the virtuoso who calls himself ‘a simple man who does a lot of charity’. “If you make so much money a year that you don’t need, it feels good to give something back to the world,” he says about his project, the Group Life Foundation that connects clubbers with the less fortunate.
Ever influenced by new talent, Tiesto even switched from his patent trance sound to house – but he never did think electronic dance music would make it this big. “One day I was hanging out with my pals Alesso, Skrillex and Avicii and in two years time, they blew up. I was already big, but compared to how big I am now? It’s insane,” he admits, adding that the city of Vegas, David Guetta and Calvin Harris are among the few that helped EDM gain commercial fame. Not getting comfortable, Tiesto also experiments with his songs and sound, dropping tracks and giving a taste of what’s to come at all of his shows, just like the one in Bengaluru. “The whole point is to show the fans something different,” he says, prepping for 2016 – a time that he dubs as they year of difference.
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
