DJ Tiësto to play AsiaWorld-Expo on National Day

DANCE MUSIC AND DJ culture has evolved and taken over the world in the past two decades. During that time, one man has embodied that change more than any other: Tijs Michiel Verwest, better known as Tiësto.

After emerging in the 1990s, the Dutch DJ came to dominate the commercial spectrum of the electronic music world in the following decade, riding the wave of the early-noughties trance explosion to become one of the best-known and most sought-after performers.

Born in the Dutch city of Breda, Tiësto (the stage handle is a twist on his childhood nickname) started playing in his homeland in the early 1990s, and released his first single in 1994. He gradually built a following throughout that decade, but really hit the big time around the turn of the millennium.

The pivotal moment was his 2000 remix of Silence by Delerium with Sarah McLachlan, which helped to turn a mid-tempo dinner party pop track into a monster trance smash. His popularity reached its peak in the next few years: he was voted "best DJ in the world" by the readers of the influential DJ Magazine three years running between 2002 and 2004. Only fellow Dutch trance pioneer Armin van Buuren has won the accolade more times.

And with his unique crossover appeal to dance music fans and mainstream audiences, Tiësto's popularity has never really waned since - as Hong Kong audiences will get to see on October 1, the National Day holiday, when he spins at AsiaWorld-Expo. He will be lining up alongside a collection of other big-name DJs, which for Tiësto is not the norm. He is famous for playing extremely long sets that can last up to 10 hours, often without a support act.

"While this is my career, I DJ out of love for the music," he says. "So I never really thought about the time of the set but rather wanted to create an environment where the fans will have the best time possible. The DJ set is like a story and sometimes that story is quite long."