Why We All Need a Little Group Therapy (Above & Beyond LA 2012 Video)

If you can get through all 6 minutes and 34 seconds of the new Above & Beyond Group Therapy LA video from The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles without getting goosebumps, then you clearly aren’t an avid EDM fan. Regardless of whether or not you have been lucky enough to specifically experience a Group Therapy event, you are familiar with the adrenaline rush of excitement as a big show with your favorite DJ approaches. Even if for some strange reason you don’t like Above & Beyond (How that’s possible is beyond me.) – you can’t help but connect with the people throughout this video in one way or another. Every one of us has our own story, our own way of finding our personal ‘group therapy’ through the music. It’s what brings our scene together. No matter how different we all may be, we are all connected through the music we love and share. Further proving, goosebumps truly do not lie.

At the end of July, Above & Beyond introduced us to their Small Moments Like These video encompassing chill indusing tiny memories throughout A&B shows, fan moments of sheer bliss both outside the club scene, all within four minutes. “Life is made of small moments like these. Thank you for being there.” That was the lasting message that Jono, Tony, and Paavo gave to fans on their YouTube channel, allowing us all to get lost in those small moments. Whether it be the beautiful storm of confetti taking over the sky like the first winter snow fall, or the simplicity of two hands embracing one another, we have all had our own small moments to look back on from shows and festivals. Memories that will last a lifetime.

“We can always be a family even if we live across the world from each other.” That particular quote stuck out to me personally in the new Above & Beyond TV episode, which recapped 3 consecutive sold out Group Therapy shows in Los Angeles earlier this May. That sentence, so small yet so powerful, can truly express the meaning of Group Therapy, or even explain the popular expression of ‘Trance Family’. Every week as Above & Beyond airs their radio show Trance Around the World, twitter fans from across the world unite as a global ‘trance family’ commenting on songs, sharing their memories, and overall making the world seem that much smaller. In what almost seems as an unofficial ‘trance family’ movie manifesto, the Group Therapy LA video combines mobile and digital camera videos from fans to convey the full experience of what happened on that long weekend in May.

In a recent EDM Insider interview with Tony McGuinness, we spoke to the Above & Beyond member about the emotional connection to the trance family and why he thinks the term has become so important. Tony sincerely spoke to EDM Insider’s Amanda saying,”I don’t know where “trance family” comes from, but I think everything that we have ever done has been to try and build a community of our fans on the web, and I think “trance family” is more of an all encompassing form of the same family.”

Instilling that family mentality in us all, another moment of the video resonated with me when I heard this fan quote about the Group Therapy experience.’It makes you live like today is your last day.’ To the outside world who doesn’t live for this music in the way so many of us do, this may seem a bit farfetched. However, if you’ve ever been to a trance event, or EDM event in general,those words makes perfect sense. We live for the everlasting memories we continuously create at shows; where we sing along with thousands of people to our favorite songs, meet and create bonds with perfect strangers, embrace our loved ones in the moment of the pulsing melody. The music allows us to free ourselves from inhibitions and get lost in a song. The video below reminds us of how powerful this music is, of how much it really is therapeutic to the soul, helping guide us past the negativity of life’s everyday worries and hardships. These reasons and more have helped to catapult the electronic dance music industry to the highest level seen before, becoming a complete phenomenon in the United States more and more everyday. Jono, Tony, and Paavo, show us all through this video that the fond memories of Group Therapy can be shared with the world, no matter how far away we may be from Los Angeles.

Article by: Angela Samartano

About the Author

Angela Samartano Angela has been dancing since before she could walk. As a technically trained dancer for the past 20 years, Angela has always had an affinity for bass heavy beats and uplifting trance melodies. Holding a Bachelors of Science in Advertising and Marketing Communications from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, she has an extensive online journalism background and is current Editor in Chief of EDM Insider. Besides her personal twitter, she is the face behind the @EDMinsider Twitter account.