Tiësto Is Playing a Full Trance Set in Canada for the First Time in Nearly 20 Years
/
By Ryan Hayes
After nearly two decades away, one of dance music's most influential artists has returned to the sound that made him a legend — and on November 28, Vancouver will become the first Canadian city to experience it.
The Return No One Expected
There are some things in dance music you simply never expect to see again. Artists change, sounds evolve, and the music that defined an era of your life can become little more than a memory for those who were there.
For anyone who came of age during Tiësto's trance era, the idea of seeing him play a full, dedicated trance set again seemed firmly in that category.
Then, in May of last year, something happened that nobody expected.
Tiësto closed out EDC Las Vegas with a special In Search of Sunrise set. For longtime fans, the significance was immediate. This wasn't simply a collection of classics; In Search of Sunrise was one of the defining series of his trance and progressive era. Hearing him return to that world on one of electronic music's biggest stages felt surreal.
But one question remained: was this a one-off?
Six months later, Dreamstate SoCal provided the answer.
A New Chapter in his Trance Legacy
In November 2025, Tiësto stepped onto the Dreamstate stage and delivered a dedicated trance set. This time, it wasn't simply about revisiting the past. Alongside the familiar sounds were a slew of new IDs, including the first appearance of Beautiful Places and the still-unreleased Lost in the Ocean.
The announcement of a new trance album followed, although that album has yet to materialize. What was clear, however, was that Tiësto had opened the door to trance again.
And it wasn't simply nostalgia driving the return. Tiësto has spoken about being re-inspired by the next generation of producers who have helped make trance feel fresh again. Rather than recreate the past, he was finding his place in its next chapter.
Trance Is Back. Full Sets Are Still Rare.
Even with trance back in Tiësto's musical DNA, his regular sets remain PRISMATIC — a genre-fluid blend of his entire career, moving from deep and atmospheric sounds to progressive, festival-ready records and everything in between.
That's what makes a true, fully dedicated trance set so rare. Outside of his In Search of Sunrise set at EDC and Dreamstate SoCal, Tiësto has delivered them at the Atomium in Brussels and most recently at Creamfields UK.
Four true trance sets. That's it.
Las Vegas. California. Brussels. The UK.
On November 28, that list gets a new country.
Vancouver is next
Dreamstate Vancouver will mark Tiësto's first full trance set in Canada since his return to the genre, and only his third dedicated trance performance in North America in nearly two decades. That's remarkable considering how consistently he's remained a presence across North America's biggest festivals and stages.
This extraordinarily rare set is happening at TRADEX in Abbotsford.
And the rest of the lineup is worthy of the occasion. Dash Berlin brings the legacy, with a catalog of trance anthems that sits comfortably alongside Tiësto's era-defining sound, while Aaron Hibell represents the genre's modern evolution with his cinematic, emotionally driven approach. With Darude, Benwal, Matty Ralph and Modeā rounding things out, Dreamstate Vancouver brings together multiple generations of trance in one night.
If his recent Creamfields slot is any indication, Vancouver is in for something special. That set was a masterclass. Tiësto wasn't simply pulling the classics out of the vault; he was showing how that sound can still work in 2026. You can hear the early 2000s coursing through the set, but the energy, pacing and production have been completely reimagined.
Voicemail (Tiësto Remix) is a perfect example. It carries the unmistakable DNA of classic Tiësto while being reworked with modern sensibilities — a reminder that revisiting an era doesn't mean simply recreating it. The result feels unmistakably Tiësto but built for the present.
For longtime fans, that is what made the Creamfields set such ajoy: the history was there, but it never felt trapped in the past.
As someone who saw Tiësto play a four-plus-hour trance set at the now-demolished Mirage in Las Vegas in 2008, I can honestly say this is something I never thought I'd see again.
That era of Tiësto seemed long gone. Yet here we are: EDC, Dreamstate, Brussels, Creamfields — and now Vancouver.
A once-in-a-decade event
There is something fitting about where Tiësto finds himself now. He's not trying to recreate the early 2000s; he's taking the sound that helped define his career and filtering it through everything he's learned since, inspired by a new generation of trance producers who have made the genre feel fresh again.
For longtime fans, November 28 is a chance to hear an artist who helped define trance return to the sound on his own terms. For those who weren't there the first time, it's an opportunity to experience firsthand why Tiësto's name became synonymous with the genre in the first place.
There are plenty of reasons to make the trip to TRADEX in Abbotsford. But for Tiësto fans, the biggest one is obvious.
Tiësto is playing trance again.
After nearly two decades, after watching one of the genre's defining artists take his career in an entirely different direction, we're getting another full trance set.
And you don't have to travel to experience it.
It's coming to us.
Dreamstate Vancouver 2026 is a once-in-a-decade event.
Make the trek to Abbotsford.
You may not get another opportunity quite like this.
