By John Wesley Hardin
Photo credit: John Wesley Hardin

Superstar DJ and Producer Tijs Verwest, aka Tiësto to his legion of fans around the world, rocked a packed house at Encore’s XS Nightclub on January 11. This crowd was older and demonstrably less hip than Tiësto’s regular audiences, as the private event was brimming with electronics industry types from Hewlett Packard and Intel, there to celebrate the launch of Tiësto’s new ‘In The Booth’ series.

 

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Tiësto greets a fan before the show.

In town for the International Consumer Electronics Show, this is the first time that the two tech companies have teamed up with a pop artist to showcase their products. The evening marked another first, as the 90- minute set was live-streamed by Twitter; its first ever live-streamed concert. HP and Intel also provided some of the technology that enabled the creation of Believe Entertainment’s “In The Booth,” a 10-episode documentary that gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at Tiësto’s live performances, tours and the fans around the world whose love of electronic dance music has made the artist a superstar in his native Netherlands, where he was knighted by the Queen and voted the 40th most important Dutch citizen in all of history.

 

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The 40th most important person in Dutch history strikes a pose.


The burden of history didn’t seem like it was weighing on Tiësto this night; he looked relaxed and happy as he posed with industry bigwigs on XS’s reception line. “I love Vegas” he said in response to one question; “What happens here...” he let it trail off until the VIP crowd responded: “Stays Here!”

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Tiësto loves Vegas and Vegas loves him back.

As a huge line built up in the general admission queue, the VIP entrance was thick with heavy hitters from Intel and Hewlett Packard; both companies sponsor ‘In The Booth’ and are eager to tap into Tiësto’s fan base. Eric Keshin, senior VP at Hewlett Packard, explained why: “Technology is key to everything Tiësto does, making him the perfect artist to help showcase what our products can do to enable a great music experience.”

 

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Tiësto and HP Senior VP Eric Keshin

That’s not the sort of marketing boilerplate you can expect the Master of the Party Universe to care very much about. While Tiësto was game to answer some questions and give a brief interview to Intel’s in-house documentary crew, he eventually gave up and, with a shrug and a smile to the PR people, he pointed to the dance floor and made his way into the club.

‘In The Booth’ will be live on a YouTube channel starting January 17 and will be promoted through Tiësto’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, and also a dedicated page at Tiësto.com.



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Tiësto flanked by Believe Entertainment honchos Bill Masterson (R) and Dan Goodman (L)


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