Crossing the Finnish line: DJ and EDM producer Darude kicks off Oz tour this weekend

Famous for creating one of the most identifiable dance tracks of 2000, Finnish DJ and producer Darude is once again taking the music world by storm.

When Darude (real name Ville Virtanen) released Sandstorm at the end of 1999, he never expected it to become the major club classic by mid-2000 – a hit that continues to fill dancefloors globally, 25 years on.

The track received international support from industry heavyweights such as Radio 1’s Pete Tong, Tiësto and Paul van Dyk, as well as having received phenomenal radio support from national stations in over 70 countries. Needless to say, Darude has entranced crowds at some of the world’s biggest music festivals such as Tomorrowland, Dancefestopia and Ministry of Sound, Australia.

But the cult-like status and worship of Sandstorm spans far beyond the dancefloor.

This year, Sandstorm celebrates its 25th anniversary and has just recently clocked over half a billion streams on Spotify. Not a bad achievement for some EDM club tune. Coinciding with this quarter-of-a-century milestone, Darude kicks off STORM 25 this week, a tour which kicks off at Home nightclub in Sydney (March 28th), then crossing to the Synthony Festival in Auckland, New Zealand (March 29), and back to Australia to play in Canberra (at Fiction, April 4th), Brisbane (Eclipse, April 5th), and Perth (Electric Island, April 6th).

Each gig will take fans on an immersive journey through the last twenty-five years, with a custom show that promises flashback moments and all-new memories waiting to be made on the dancefloor. 

And the guy won’t be short on material. Lest we forget, the unmistakable sound of Darude has also featured in various Hollywood movies, adverts for Nike, PlayStation games and popular sports broadcasts including America’s NFL, Ice Hockey World Championships, Wimbledon, Ultimate Fighting Championship and 2006 Winter Olympics. But there’s so much great new production out, too. More on this in a sec.

With fellow Finn, Audioventura, and Australian vocalist, JVMIE (Jamie Lee Wilson), bthere was also his 2019 single Hide, of which Darude said, “I know it sounds cheesy but I’m such an Australian lover myself. I love coming to play there. You guys know your music and you love partying so I’m very excited about this Aussie connection, too.”

No stranger to working with Australian music artists over the years, Darude has developed a deep respect and connection with our homegrown talent.

“I sincerely like the Aussie spirit of [being] free-flowing yet still doing your jobs well and taking it seriously,” he says.

“That’s one of the things I really love about JVMIE. I just simply sent her my stuff and asked if she’d like to work on it. I don’t even remember if she responded yes or no at that point but she sent me the vocal element, so I was like ‘Good, I guess that’s a yes, then!”

Karen Bilsby

DARUDE’S STORM 25 AUS/NZ TOUR DATES:

28 March – Home, Sydney

29 March – Synthony Festival, Auckland

4 April – Fiction, Canberra

5 April – Eclipse, Brisbane

6 April – Electric Island, Perth

For tickets and more information, visit www.storm25.world.