The British dance-music trio of Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki are celebrating their 25th anniversary of making music as Above & Beyond with a tour that is a glorification of music and community. And they’ll be reacquainting themselves with the Orlando music community this week with a big show at the Orlando Amphitheater.
It’s not all just work for the band, though. After a seven-year hiatus, Above & Beyond released Bigger Than All of Us. This fifth album for the band marks a new chapter in their story, blending sonic evolution with a nod to their roots.
“Tony and I looked back at Tri-State because it was the first album we did. We sat down and listened to it, which we hadn’t done in years. We sort of worked out what it was we liked about it and tried to impart some of that into the album to give the album a bit more space compared to the other albums we have done. So that was kind of different, but it was also going back,” Grant says.
Bigger Than All of Us was shaped by years of personal growth, burnout and solo creative exploration. During the band’s quieter years, all three members tried their hand at solo projects.
“It’s very easy in a collective to lose your individuality and your understanding of what you stand for,” Siljamäki says. “The solo projects gave each of us a chance to explore outside the box and find our own unique sound.”
Those individual outings, ironically, helped bring the trio closer, as did the involvement of DJ and producer Dave Dresden as a fourth collaborator. Dresden acted as what Siljamäki calls “glue” between the three core members, offering encouragement and cohesion.
“Sometimes you need a little push from someone outside. Otherwise, you make all these ideas and don’t finish them, and you know, they never get done,” Grant says.
During their lengthy break, the band took plenty of time to tend to their mental and emotional health, addressing creative burnout and finding balance in their personal lives with the neverending demands of the music industry.
“Time is a healer, you know, life hurts, life heals. Without some of those struggles, we wouldn’t be as creative as we are. The difficulties that we have each gone through in our personal lives, we’ve written songs about and in a way, I think, that keeps us grounded and connected and hopefully makes the music relatable as well,” Siljamäki, who has been open about his own struggles since 2018, says.
For Grant, the pause lent by the pandemic in particular provided essential clarity on the need for balance in his life. “It is almost like an addiction, touring or music. On one hand, it is a great form of therapy, but on the other hand, it is work and it is important to have other things in your life to balance it out,” Grant explains.
This tour also marks a change in the Above & Beyond live experience, with a new customized stage design aiming to create an immersive live experience. This new stage ditches the DJ booth and is circular, built to draw in fans “in the round” rather than tower above them.
“We wanted to give the people a feeling of being surrounded by the production,” Siljamäki says.
This is especially fitting, as an essential aspect of Above & Beyond is the relationship they’ve built with their fans.
“People have been married to some of our songs, but also funerals. It’s very touching that they consider our music a part of it. That stuff pulls you through the downs. It provides a lot of comfort and value,” Grant says.
For Above & Beyond, it’s not just about the relationship between the band and their fans, but how the fans help each other out as a wider community.
“It’s a humbling thing, we started something, but now it’s got a life of its own and it’s beautiful,” Siljamäk says.
And these connections are exactly what Bigger Than All of Us (album and tour alike) aims to honor — a reminder that Above & Beyond was never just about three musicians behind the decks, but the community that’s grown up with them over two and a half decades.
As the Orlando show approaches, Above & Beyond relishes these moments of connection now more than ever.
“Whatever is happening in the world around us, what we get to do is we have just two hours, just really connecting with the music, the moment and each other,” Siljamäki says.
(Above & Beyond: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12; Orlando Amphitheater, Central Florida Fairgrounds, 4603 W. Colonial Drive; 407-295-3247; $60-$200)
Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
This article appears in Sept. 10-16, 2025.