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DJ Mag Top100 DJs
55
John O'Callaghan
3

John O'Callaghan's 2012 hit a strange peak with a visit to Macau in China. "It was a four-hour flight from Singapore, I was suffering a shocking hangover," he tells DJ Mag, "and then I was really amazed to see all the hotels and buildings that are mirrored there from Las Vegas." John travels light on his international touring, as he is one of the new breed who make the most of the advantages of the latest industry-standard club hardware.

"Three USB keys on CDJ2000s. Why bring a laptop when you can bring 96 GBs of music in your pocket?" he says. Naming the A State Of Trance 550 event at Beyond Wonderland in LA as a highlight of his year, John explains"I have played in LA many times and I have seen over the years how trance has gotten stronger there. ASOT 550 was the culmination of that.

I played in the evening time and I played exactly what I wanted to play, and I was buzzing to see the crowd react so well to it." Citing "a definite sense of teamwork and friendliness inside trance circles", John is hopeful for what the future will bring for the genre. "I feel that 2012 was a really strong year for trance, as the massive commercial boom has separated the cheese from the real trance community," he says. "I fully expect 2013 to be even stronger, as the commercial bubble will eventually burst and those who have stayed true to real electronic dance music will have much stronger foundations to build on."