Ferry Corsten

FERRY Corsten caused chaos when Theology announced his booking last October.

An unprecedented push for tickets was followed by jaw-dropping disappointment when Corsten’s flight was cancelled, forcing the postponement of his massively anticipated headline set.

The Dutch superstar has never before played for a Jersey crowd, but he’s been voted one of the top 10 DJs in the world for the past five years, and he’s played for hundreds of thousands of fans in amphitheatres, fields and nightclubs from Australia, to Russia, to white-hot Ibiza.

He took Ibiza’s Best Trance DJ at the annual DJ Awards ceremony in 2007 and 2009, and has even had his life’s work interpreted in music, video and décor at his annual Masquerade event Full on Ferry, at 12,000-capacity arena Ahoy in his hometown, Rotterdam.

For the fans who held onto their tickets, and those who were quick to to grab one of the latest batch, Saturday night marks a long-awaited date on the clubbing calendar, as Corsten is, at the second attempt, all set to make his debut –  and Liquid should be full to capacity.

‘After the disappointment of having had to cancel Ferry’s last scheduled show, due to unavoidable circumstances, it’s a huge relief and pleasure to finally be bringing one of the biggest stars in dance music over to Jersey. It’s going to be an unforgettable show,’ says Theology’s Warren Le Sueur.

While most tickets were refunded from October’s postponement, 250 remain unreturned. If you’ve still got yours, it will be valid for Saturday’s event, as long as you present it at the door.

I/V: Ferry Corsten

Where are you now? What’s been happening for you lately?
‘Right now I am at the airport in Kiev. I’m flying back from my last Twice In A Blue Moon Show from my tour.’

What got you into DJing?
‘It started as a hobby and that’s how I learned how to mix one record into another, but my biggest ambition as a youngster was actually producing dance music. I never thought that I would be an international DJ and could make my career out of it.’

What other DJs or musicians have been influential, particularly to your current sets?
‘It’s pretty much music from the eighties. People like Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, but also people like Kraftwerk, Howard Jones, Mantronix, Afrika Bambaataa. And Italo disco was huge in Holland. That all influenced me as a kid I guess.’

What inspires you musically?
‘All sorts of things. I love playing with melodies and various sounds and to make it work in one track. The nice thing about producing your own music is that you can provide yourself as a DJ with the latest music and edits of other tracks that no one else has.’

What’s been your most memorable experience to date?
‘This year it would be the carnival in Brazil. I played a set on a big float during the street parade of Salvador which is the biggest electronic music carnival in Brazil. There were two million people out there and that was pretty amazing.’

Where’s the strangest place you have played?
‘I can tell you about the most memorable place. That was in the desert near Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) – that was a great experience, with the Uluru on the back as décor.’

You’re well established as both radio DJ and live set DJ – do you favour one over the other? What do you enjoy about both?
‘These are two completely different things for me but I prefer the live DJ. The radio show is a one hour radio show where I will present ten brand new tracks every week, and right after the show the listeners can vote for their favourite tracks of that week’s episode. In the last show of each month, I will play the top ten countdown of the most voted tracks of the month. The radio show is the perfect way to reach all my fans and listeners around the world every week.’

What do you get up to when you’re not working?
‘I have a little daughter to have fun with and I am a big fan of the Discovery Channel.’

What are your upcoming plans for this year?
‘I’ll be touring the world with my new Once Upon A Night – The Experience. It’ll be an interactive six-hour show with a couple of guest DJs with me on the line up. It will be all based on the tracks of the compilation in a visual way.’

What are your expectations for Theology and the Jersey crowd?
‘I definitely expect an amazing vibe and beautiful people.’

Ferry Corsten will play a three hour set on Saturday night at Liquid for Theology, with support from Paul     and Jimmy Graham.