Tiesto DJ Set - Opening Ceremony 2004 Olympic Games...???

[DjBetta]

Damn...I feel so late for not knowing this or having seen it before.

I must have been sleeping under a rock or living in a cave for far too long. But...I just found out right now that Tiesto actually opened up for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens Greece with a DJ set for the torch/opening ceremony.

First off let me just say that...I am really not that much into sports...especially team sports. So...I really don't watch things like the Olympic Games even though they are probably one of the most prestigious sporting events on earth. I am the type of guy that watches the Super Bowl, the NBA playoffs and maybe 1-2 major boxing events and that's it.

So...seeing Tiesto at the Olympics strikes me as very odd...

1. Since when did 'techno/trance' become so 'mainstream' that it finally made it to the opening ceremony of a sporting event as big as the Olympic Games...?

2. Since when did 'DJing' become so popular/cool...that they finally decided to let a DJ play music at something like the Olympic Games...?

Last time I checked and if I am not mistaken...

A. DJing and EDM/Dance music only really took off just recently (globally)...within the last 10 years (i.e. about 2010 on-wards)

B. Don't they usually use more 'contemporary style' music (live singer/live band doing rock, soul, pop etc.) for major sporting events.

Honestly...I never would of thought that a DJ playing techno/trance would ever be considered 'appropriate' for something quite as big and prestigious as something like the Olympic Games. I mean...I live in "AMERRRICA". I don't think you would 'EVER' see a DJ playing trance/techno at something like the Half Time Show of the Super Bowl for example.

Really confused. Hopefully someone can help set me straight.

[pete]

DJing has been "popular" for decades.
While in the US the whole EDM thing exploded in the last 10 years, before that there is a whole history. Disco...hip-hop...house...it all had its time.
In Europe DJing was the "in thing" from the early 90s. It became truly overground and mainstream in the late 90s.
Around this time the music style that was popular was trance.

So you can imagine that the commercialisation of it all came through to the level of the Olympics a few years later. Hence Tiesto.

Of course by then for most electronic music lovers it was all a bit much. Hence all the hate for Tiesto by any sensible dance music fan. the techno/trance Tiesto played at the Olympics was a far cry from what the officionados of the genres listen to, it was like comparing Disney to Michaelangelo.

As usual the US saw this commercialisaton as a revenue stream and cottoned onto a few years later. Hence Tiesto in Las Vegas. Hence EDM explosion. Hence Martin Garrix.

Meanwhile in Europe the music scene faded from popularity. Holidays to Ibiza to get mashed and club all night became less a right-of-passage and more of a tired cliche. The clubs were shutting down. Kids weren't going out. The music turned on itself and got boring. So really the whole "took off globally since 2010" is kinda llike saying cars only became popular after Tesla.

The underground still chugs along. New blood comes into the music scene and learns the history.

[DJ Matt]

A. DJing and EDM/Dance music only really took off just recently (globally)...within the last 10 years (i.e. about 2010 on-wards)
.

yea it took off a long looooong time before that, in fact id say "golden" era of electronic music if you could call it that, had long past by 2010 and was something for the history books (for me anyways) but i guess it goes to show how we can have different perceptions
there was certainly a wave of chart hits around 2010 that had an electronic EDM vibe to them, so i guess this is what you are referring to

[conanski]

I live in "AMERRRICA".

What you are experiencing isn't new, the US typically does it's own thing and doesn't pay much attention to what's happening outside it's borders.. for better or for worse at times. That is mostly due to geography being physically isolated from the larger part of the world population over in europe and asia but it's also because they have enough population to generate their own trends.

[Dizzle]

as I recall, Tiesto played during the parade of nations segment of the opening ceremonies. the spotlight and commentary was on the nations and athletes. Tiesto playing, while a huge reflection of the mainstreaming of dance music, was never spotlighted or made a spectacle of. It was nothing like the fat boy slim olympic showcase in 2012, for example, which resembled a superbowl halftime show.

https://youtu.be/ij3sgRG5sPY?t=1h50m40s