Israeli tech company Rapyd organises private event for employees, booking Tiësto, Martin Garrix, Armin van Buuren and more to perform

We’re all familiar with the age-old works party – you and your colleagues throw off the shackles of working life and have hours of fun for an evening, with the company picking up the tab. There’s booze, some food, normally a fight or two, and the whole affair is soundtracked by a local wedding DJ playing the Top 40 behind some disco lights. It’s all very much straight out the hit UK sitcom The Office. But not for employees of Israeli company Rapyd, as the bosses at the Tel Aviv based tech giant are going just a little bit further than a cheesy disco and a $100 bar tab… For their employees, as a way to give them something back after a tough 18 months of the Covid-19 crisis, they’re booking a few DJs you might have heard of. Yes, they’ve booked Tiësto. And Martin Garrix. And Armin van Buuren. And Nervo. There’s a local DJ duo too, an Israeli duo called Infected Mushroom, you might have heard of them…

This wildly excessive party is thought to have cost “millions” to throw, and will take place at Tel Aviv’s Azrieli building this evening (Oct 6), before moving on to the Expo Centre for the main event. It’s not exactly a massive hit for Rapyd, because as a world-leading financial tech company specialising in online payments, in a year where everyone was at home and buying things online, their valuation was estimated to have doubled in the financial year leading up to Jan 2021 to a cool $2.5 billion. They have saved a bit of cash on the party however, as David Guetta was due to perform, but cancelled according to Israeli newspaper Mako.

The event isn’t just an example of how well Israel has over-come the Covid-19 crisis, but an example of how the dance music scene is starting to shift some serious money around after a year of treading water. While some more snobbish dance music fans might be critical of such an event, corporate gigs are nothing new for DJs, though admittedly rarely at a level that matches a major festival mainstage lineup, and the fact cash is once again flowing into the industry bodes well for the coming year no matter how you look at it. Sure, you can only attend if you’re an employee of Rapyd, but the reopening of society and the shoring up of the dance music industry means there’ll be plenty of opportunities to see these DJs in the coming months.

Image Credits: Tiësto (via Facebook), Martin Garrix (via Facebook), Armin van Buuren (via Facebook)