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Above & Beyond Live Trance & Progressive DJ-Sets Compilation (2001 - 2024)

Above & Beyond Live Trance & Progressive DJ-Sets Compilation (2001 - 2024)

Above & Beyond Live Trance & Progressive DJ-Sets Compilation (2001 - 2024)

Regular price £19.99

Above & Beyond (2001 - 2024)
Live Trance & Radio DJ-Sets Compilation

173 Live DJ-Sets + 349 Hours of Music

 

We have put together this Quality Collection of Trance DJ-Sets which offers the buyer a great chance to purchase this fantastic series of DJ Sets from one of the best Trance Groups all in one Convenient Affordable DJ-Sets Compilation 

The DJ-Sets can easily be used on your Home Entertainment System, In-Car MP3 Player, Home PC / Apple Mac, Apple iPod / iPhone / iPad, Portable Music Player or Tablet and through your Smart TV or DJ Equipment using the USB Drive option, so you have a huge variety of different devices in which you can play our DJ-Set Compilations, regardless of whether you are at home, in the car, or the train or on the move. 

Most of these collections have taken well over a decade to collect, catalog, and put together so you won't find a better collection of DJ Sets from this Artist/Group or Club/ Event anywhere else on the planet, in these discounted packages exclusive to ourselves.




Compilation Listing

ABOVE & BEYOND 2001 - 2002 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live on ID&T Radio (17.11.01) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Ministry of Sound in London (25.05.02) - 1 Hour

ABOVE & BEYOND 2003 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ Global DJ Broadcast (20.03.03) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Global DJ Broadcast (23.06.03) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Global DJ Broadcast (04.08.03) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live on DI FM Radio (12.05.03) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live on DI FM Radio (17.03.03) - Hour
Above & Beyond - Live on DI FM Radio (09.06.03) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live on Nova 969 in Sydney (14.12.03) - 45 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Generator (21.11.03) - 2 Hours

ABOVE & BEYOND 2004 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ Trance Escape (09.01.04) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live Trance Classics Mix (2004) - 4 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Melomania Deluxe (19.04.04) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live on Radio 1 Essential Mix (06.06.04) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ the Trancemission (26.06.04) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Trance Escape (09.01.04) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Global DJ Broadcast (05.05.04) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live on Ministry Radio (24.08.04) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live on Ministry Radio (31.08.04) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Trance Around The World (07.09.04) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ MAD (24.09.04) - 45 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Ministry Of Sound (03.02.04) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Trance Around The World (14.09.04) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Gatecrasher Party in Russia (26.09.04) - 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live on ID&T Radio (14.11.04) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live On Nova 969 in Sydney (14.12.04) - 45 Mins

ABOVE & BEYOND 2005 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live on ID&T Radio (01.01.05) - 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Extravadance (05.06.05) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Global Gathering 2005 (31.07.05) - Video
Above & Beyond - Live @ Space in Ibiza (14.08.05) - 1 Hour

ABOVE & BEYOND 2006 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ Technoclub (09.02.06) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Trance Energy 2006 (11.02.06) - 75 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Maximal on SSL Radio (14.04.06) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Miami WMC 2006 (24.03.06) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Nocturnal Sessions (22.04.06) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Anjunabeats Classics (09.06.06) - 150 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Ministry of Sound (04.08.06) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ HI-FI Festival in Ireland (05.08.06) - 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Salmiakki Sessions (17.08.06) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Sensation White (22.10.06) - 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Lovefest 2006 in Ireland (2006) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Cafe Mambo in Ibiza (20.07.06) - 20 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Fistral Beach in Newquay (06.08.06) - 20 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live on JJJ Mixup (29.07.06) - 1 Hour

ABOVE & BEYOND 2007 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ Kristina Sky (08.02.07) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Anjunabeats Promo Mix (2007) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ After Hours on 1FM (02.06.07) - 1 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live on Bora Music (02.02.07) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Planet Love in Ireland (09.09.07) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Expedition 100 Celebration (30.09.07) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Nature One 2007 (03.08.07) - 75 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Puresound Sessions (14.11.07) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Tendence 2007 (04.11.07) - 135 Mins

ABOVE & BEYOND 2008 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live on Global Warmup (12.04.08) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ GOA in India (04.01.08) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live on Global Warmup (12.04.08) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Godskitchen in Wroclaw (05.04.08) - 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Global Gathering in Russia (03.08.08) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Vangogh Club in Ekaterinburg (11.07.08) - 1 Hour
Judge Jules & Above and Beyond - Live @ Global Warmup (13.09.08) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Groove Radio International (15.08.08) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Anjuna Beats Promo (29.08.08) - 1 Hour

ABOVE & BEYOND 2009 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ The Mainroom Mix Session (12.03.09) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ UMF 2009 I (28.03.09) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live on Groove Radio (03.03.09) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Club FG (29.05.09) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live on UMF Radio (30.10.09) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Blow Ya Speakers (22.10.09) - 1 Hour

ABOVE & BEYOND 2010 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live on the Dance Floor (07.03.10) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ WMC 2010 in Miami (24.03.10) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Global Warmup (09.04.10) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ EDC 2010 in Los Angeles (26.06.10) - 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Zoo (22.07.10) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Liberty Parade 2010 (24.07.10) - 3 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live on UMF Radio (27.08.10) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Zoo in New York (03.09.10) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Zoo in New York (05.09.10) - 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Zoo Radio (26.08.10) - 1 Hour

ABOVE & BEYOND 2011 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ 10 Years of Anjunabeats (10.02.11) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ WMC 2011 in Miami (25.03.11) - 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ ASOT 500 in Den Bosch (09.04.11) - 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Best of UMF Radio (24.03.11) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Tight Space in London (17.11.11) - 45 Mins

ABOVE & BEYOND 2012 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ M20 Heroes (16.02.12) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ M20 Heroes (16.02.12) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Zoo in New York (31.08.12) - 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Club FG on Radio FG (09.09.12) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Club FG on Radio FG (23.09.12) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Zoo in New York (02.09.12) - 30 Mins

ABOVE & BEYOND 2013 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ Surrender in Las Vegas (26.05.13) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Kiss Present's (14.03.13) - 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ UMF 2013 in Miami (17.03.13) - 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Zoo 2013 in New York (30.08.13) - 20 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ ASOT 600, UMF 2013 in Miami (23.03.13) - 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Stereosonic 2013 in Sydney (01.12.13) - 1 Hour

ABOVE & BEYOND 2014 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ UMF 2014 in Miami (29.03.14) – 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Surrender in Las Vegas (26.05.13) – 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ The Budweiser Hotel in Rio (12.06.14) – 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ EDC 2014 in Las Vegas (22.06.14) – 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Thank You Festival in Columbia (26.06.14) – 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ UMF 2014 in Croatia (11.07.14) – 75 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Tomorrowland 2014 in Boom (26.07.14) – 75 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Burning Man in Nevada (30.07.14) – 45 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Beyond Wonderland in SF (20.08.14) – 20 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Radio 1 Party, Privilege in Ibiza (02.08.14) – 75 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Lollapalooza in Chicago (27.11.14) – 75 Mins

ABOVE & BEYOND 2015 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ WMC 2015 in Miami (25.03.15) – 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ UMF Radio 300 (06.02.15) – 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ EDC 2015 in Las Vegas (20.06.15) – 75 Mins

ABOVE & BEYOND 2016 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ UMF 2015 in Croatia (16.07.16) – 20 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam (24.09.16) – 1 Hour

ABOVE & BEYOND 2017 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ UMF 2017 in Miami (25.03.17) – 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Sirius XM Music Lounge (23.03.17) – 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Nature One 2017 in Germany (04.08.17) – 90 Mins

ABOVE & BEYOND 2018 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ ASOT 850 in Miami (25.03.18) – 90 MIns
Above & Beyond - Live @ UMF 2018 in Miami (25.03.18) – 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ House of Chill in Miami (22.03.18) – 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Tomorrowland 2018 in Boom (20.07.18) – 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Tomorrowland 2018 in Boom (28.07.18) – 1 Hour

ABOVE & BEYOND 2019 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ WMC 2019 in Miami (27.03.19) – 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ The Awakening in Sydney (16.03.19) – 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ EDC 2019 in Las Vegas (17.05.19) – 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Zoo 2017 in New York (31.09.19) – 90 Mins

ABOVE & BEYOND 2020 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ UMF Virtual Festival 2020 (20.03.20) – 30 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Zoo Festival 2020 (06.09.20) – 1 Hour
2020 ANJUNADEEP SET SERIES
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (20.05.20) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (27.05.20) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (05.06.20) – 4 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (27.06.20) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (05.07.20) – 4 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (27.07.20) – 4 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (26.08.20) – 4 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (02.09.20) – 4 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (10.09.20) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (02.10.20) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (12.10.20) – 3 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (09.12.20) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (15.12.20) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep Special (23.12.20) – 10 Hours

ABOVE & BEYOND 2021 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - LIve @ Dance Again Virtual Festival (28.05.21) – 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Guatape Colombia For Cercle (13.12.21) – 90 Mins

ANJUNADEEP LOCKDOWN SERIES

Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (17.01.21) – 6 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (25.02.21) – 6 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (03.03.21) – 6 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (12.03.21) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (06.04.21) – 10 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (26.04.21) – 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (08.06.21) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (05.11.21) – 6 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (07.12.21) – 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (21.03.22) – 7 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (26.04.21) – 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep Set Anjunadeep (25.09.22) – 4 Hours

ABOVE & BEYOND 2022 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ Lights All Night NYE 2021 (01.01.22) – 75 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Deep House in Buenos Aires (12.04.22) – 5 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ For Cercle in Guatape, Colombia (16.05.22) – 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Reflections Special Continuous Mix (16.06.22) – 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Brooklyn Mirage in Brooklyn (21.08.22) – 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Radio 1 Wind Down Reflections (10.12.22) – 1 Hour
Above & Beyond - Live @ Contact 2022 in Vancouver (29.12.22) – 90 Mins

ABOVE & BEYOND 2023 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ EDC 2023 in Las Vegas (19.05.23) – 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Electric Forest 2023 (25.06.23) – 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Transmission in Netherlands (02.12.23) - 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Dreamstate in San Francisco (31.12.23) - 2 Hours

ABOVE & BEYOND 2024 TRANCE DJ SETS

Above & Beyond - Live @ Lollapalooza in Buenos Aires (16.03.24) - 75 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ Asuncionico Concert in Prague (19.03.24) - 90 Mins
Above & Beyond - Live @ US Tour in in New York (16.06.24) - 1 Hour

GROUP THERAPY BIRTHDAY SESSIONS

Above & Beyond - Live @ Group Therapy 100 (18.10.14) - 6 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ Group Therapy 150 (26.09.15) - 6 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ GT200 in Amsterdam (15.10.16) – 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ GT250 in WA (22.09.17) – 3 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ GT350 in Prague (11.10.19) – 3 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ GT400  in London (30.09.20) – 4 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ GT450, Drumsheds in London (11.09.21) – 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ GT500, Banc Of California in LA (29.10.22) – 2 Hours
Above & Beyond - Live @ GT600, Hipódromo de las Américas (19.10.24) - 2 Hours



 Artists Profile

 

Current Location :: London, UK 

Real Names :: Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness & Paavo Siljamäki

Music Genres :: Trance

Allias/Collaboration :: AALTO, Dirt Devils, Freestate, Nitromethane, POS, Tranquility Base, Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness, Ooceanlab

 

 

 

 There are DJs who can rock a party, a club, a festival. And there are acts that can write songs that will bring out the goose bumps in you. But there’s only one group that can do both: Above & Beyond.

The best moment at ABGT250, Above & Beyond’s skyscraping open-air festival staged in front of 23,000 fans at Washington state’s Gorge Amphitheatre in September? Ask the three men at the heart of it, you get three different answers.

Paavo Siljamäki: “One day I was having lunch on my own in the winery – I know, a winery! – next to The Gorge and heard these two couples chatting. They didn’t know each other beforehand, but as I sat there eavesdropping I realised I was listening to them becoming friends. They’d been drawn together by ABGT250. That was the essence of the weekend for me."

Jono Grant: "I was in a car heading off the site with [singer] Zoë Johnston, and there was a long stream of fans leaving The Gorge. Zoë and I asked the driver to stop the car on a bridge that was above the flowing river of fans, and we got and waved goodbye to them as the walked through the tunnel. Everyone were screaming like crazy and it was a really fun moment. It never ceases to amaze me both how much love and dedication the fans have towards it all.”

Tony McGuinness: “Paavo was doing an 11am yoga set and I went with him. So, 2000 people in front of the yoga stage doing the downward dog, then a couple thousand more just enjoying the tunes he was playing, then a six-abreast stream of people in Anjunabeats and Above & Beyond t-shirts walking from the campsite – seeing all that for the first time, and seeing our family, if you like, in broad daylight and bright sunshine, brought home to me the enormity of our community. They were coming together in the spirit of openness and warmth and music. Let’s just say I was glad I was wearing sunglasses because, honestly, I was choking up.”

Three answers, one unifying theme: for their latest (ad)venture, hosted to mark their 250th Group Therapy radio show, Above & Beyond had crystallised something that lay at the heart of everything they’ve achieved over their 17 years together. From developing that groundbreaking radio show to touring the world’s best clubs and most illustrious venues; from establishing a thriving, multi-artist label to building a peerless catalogue of artist albums; from creating iconic dance anthems to curating soulful acoustic rerubs, one thing stands out.

That is: Above & Beyond have carved out a unique space in music and culture, one that reaches far beyond their electronic roots. In so doing, Jono, Paavo and Tony have created something special: a common ground where all sorts of people and ideas can come together. Celebration, kinship, community – it’s the A&B way.

Presenting, then, Common Ground. The trio’s fourth electronic album is the follow-up to 2015’s Grammy-nominated We Are All We Need, and comes in the wake of sell-out shows at totemic venues ranging from Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre to London’s O2. It features a quartet of guest vocalists, a couple of them longstanding members of the family, a couple of them valued newcomers. And it’s an album born from everything they’ve done so far, most recently the glorious Gorge happening and the band’s 2016 orchestral tour in support of their second acoustic album.

“We were just absolutely spoiled with every venue on that tour,” says a still-buzzing Paavo. “The Sydney Opera House was emotional because that was the end of the whole tour. But I never thought we could do a show at a Broadway theatre, or the Hollywood Bowl or the Royal Albert Hall – the ultimate homecoming gig for any band based in London. It was really the stuff of dreams.”

“It was great opportunity to make real in a live band universe – which means a lot to me – everything we’ve done with Above & Beyond so far,” continues Tony. “Us playing keyboards and guitars, and all those live strings and horns, consolidated my fantasy about everything Above & Beyond can and should be.”

When it came to writing the songs for their next album, that tour, he adds, had an immediate,

“The success of the acoustic tour has relaxed us even more in terms of what we can do and what we can use.”

Less than 18 months since the end that most recent world tour, and only two months since The Gorge, an energised and invigorated Above & Beyond are already almost ready for their next chapter. The finishing touches are being made to Common Ground in the band’s London studio, but the songs are already firmly in place.

An early keeper was the heartfelt, bittersweet Cold Feet, written and recorded with returning vocalist Justine Suissa in Paavo’s new studio in his Finnish homeland. “By the end of summer 2016 we had had some really good writing sessions,” he explains. "Then Justine came over to Finland in January to write songs with me. We were swimming in a frozen lake, then popping indoors to write a song with a piano and a mic in this totally isolated place. It was a fantastic place to be creative together."

Beyond that, two teaser tracks have already been rapturously received. First up is the bleak-but-beautiful Tightrope, a big club track that Tony wrote with Martin Longstaff. “I met Marty at Chris Difford’s songwriting workshop at Glastonbury a couple years ago. I was just blown away by him.” Welcomed into the A&B brood as a guest vocalist, his writing skills were too good an opportunity for the ever-curious band to pass by. “Writing Tightrope together was a fantastic experience, and it just shows a slightly different side to us. It’s quite dark but still glorious because of his angelic voice.”

Then there’s the euphoric My Own Hymn, which features A&B favourite Zoë Johnston. “She’s just an absolute thrill to work with,” says Paavo, “and to see how her mind works – she’s one of the most creative people I know. And that song is really a result of one of these days where we just sit down with some ideas and at the end of the day we have a song.”

Tony describes Common Ground’s second single as his favourite track on the album. “As well as being this wonderful earth mother to all of us, Zoë has a lovely independent streak. And this song puts into words that feeling that everyone can write their own script if they want to. It has depth and a fantastic inspirational side. We’re so lucky to have her in the band.”

Now, teeing up the album’s January 2018 release – as well as a pair of landmark, turn-of-the-year shows at New York’s Barclays Centre and the Los Angeles Convention Centre (followed by a full spring US tour) – comes new single Northern Soul. Tony wrote it in 2014 after the band shot the On A Good Day video in Detroit. He wanted to hymn the qualities of a once great, then neglected and now resurgent heartland American city.

“There’s a sense of hope when you go to Detroit now,” he notes, “and I knew I wanted to write a song about that.”

Less immediately clear was who would be the singer. Exploring all their options, the band tried out (in Tony’s estimation) ten singers. All were great in their own ways, but none fitted the bill exactly. Then he had the brainwave of sounding out one of the trio’s foundational singers. Richard Bedford was the voice of some of Above & Beyond’s cornerstone songs, notably Sun & Moon and Thing Called Love, before going off to do his own thing.

“I just thought, sod it, I’ll give him a shout, see if he’s up for coming back,” relates Tony. He was, and he did, “and it immediately sounded and felt right. He’s got one those voices that has a really lovely balance of power and vulnerability. And because he’s one of our original singers, it’s like he owns the song. It’s great to have back in the family.”

Bedford’s involvement speaks to another dynamic at work on Common Ground. As they approach their 18-years-young birthday, Above & Beyond are refreshing their roots to reach new heights.

As Paavo says, “working with Richard for the first time in ages has that feeling of us looking back at our beginnings – and Northern Soul definitely covers again that happy-sad territory. It sounds like something really old and something really new mixed together.”

On Northern Soul, at least, the threesome are coming full circle. But as for the rest of Common Ground? On previous form, it’ll showcase Above & Beyond not so much circling as spiralling upwards, outwards and onwards – not least on the not-quite-completed Is It Love (1001) a track which features another brand new vocalist.

“Yeah, Jono sings that,” chuckles Tony, “which is something he’s never done before. He’s very, very critical of his own singing, but in terms of the music he likes to emulate, that Eighties pop thing, his voice is absolutely perfect on this.”

"I didn’t originally want to sing it, but the guys seemed to like it,” begins Jono by way of (humble) explanation. The backstory, he continues, is that the song was always meant to be a vocal track. “But the lovely folk at the offices at Anjunabeats rushed it to release, so it first came out as an instrumental. Musically, it’s a mix of synth pop with a strange combo of trance and almost a French disco feel to the crunchy claps in the chorus. I’d put some scratch vocal melody ideas down a long time ago, and then later we came back to it with Tony writing the lyrics to fit the melodies around my original 'it’s the same way down' demo lyric. I am a big Eighties synth pop fan,” he acknowledges, "so I wanted to do something with that kind of aesthetic."

In its own small way, Is It Love (1001) and its deft, smartly realised vocal left-turn sums up again that A&B way. As Paavo cheerfully puts it in conclusion, “we do get bored quite quickly. When we’re busy and creative, we’re excited. And we want to remain excited, and that means moving sideways, moving forwards…” 

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