Rave till you drop

Dubai: He may be a talented keyboard player, guitarist, drummer, singer and DJ, but Monday night at the World Trade Centre, Moby played to the raver in me. Random sentences thrown in between electro dance beats and acid-trance tunes peeled back the years, transporting the audience to another time and place in their life, to open-air parties under the night sky, dancing to the DJ's beats.

In Dubai to promote the launch of Destroyed, his ninth studio album, Moby's performance on July 4 packed a punch. For once, the audience at the venue were all fans. Instead of the casual head-bobbers pretending to know the lyrics, those comprising Moby's audience on Monday were honest to goodness fans, each jumping, tripping, raving and dancing to the DJ's hits.

Perhaps one of the most notable themes of the night was Moby's gratitude to his fans. With the completion of each song, the number of thank yous thrown to the audience increased. Here was a man truly enjoying his moment in the spotlight, including everyone on his journey, acknowledging their presence with his gratitude.

A man like Moby? Hard to resist. Especially when he upped the ante with tunes such as Lift Me Up, Go and We Are Made Of Stars, a track, Moby said, is the only disco song ever made about Quantum Mechanics.

His performance of the epic Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? saw vocalist Joy Malcolm's vocal range hit notes most would never even dream of. By this point, an unreal sense of ecstasy had set in. Moby's foot-stomping, fist-pumping, acid-trance beats had everyone jumping around on self-induced highs.

Midway, Moby slowed it down with Porcelain, the track that began my love affair with the DJ. The gentle piano strains combined with Moby's husky vocals was the balm the audience needed after the battering beats thrown forth in the first half of the set. And it was from that moment on, that Moby's concert took a turn from just amazing to ecstatically amazing. Before I had the time to recover from the beauty of his soundtrack for The Beach, Moby piled on the trance, Joy kicked up the vocals and the audience bounced like never before, the acid beats magically moving our feet.

And through it all, Moby encouraged everyone to imagine themselves back in an open field, at a rave, watching the sun come up, with feet that won't stop stomping on the earth below.

Later into the night, Moby made a confession: "I may pretend to be intellectual, but deep down, I'm just a raver at heart."

And Monday night, Moby managed to bring everyone's inner raver back to the forefront, bringing back memories of times long past, full moons thoroughly enjoyed and fields never to be forgotten.