Reviews

Avicii live at the London o2 Arena

On such a big weekend for the UK in general as the Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee – including the star studded concert outside Buckingham Palace – there was another event in London, as the 4th of June marked the first noteworthy show that Swedish phenomenon Avicii would play in the country. A day after he descended upon Dublin, he played infront of a sold out O2 Arena donned by some of the World’s leading musical artists in the past. It wasn’t only just an event to see Avicii however, as he had a pretty special entourage supporting him all the way. Step forward compatriots Cazzette, Dutch talent Hardwell, as well as the man who could start almost any party; Chuckie.

Starting off was the relatively new Cazzette, who brought their Electro yet slight Dubstep style to the dance-floors, proving to great avail. Mixing a set full of big drops and thunderous baselines the stand out track from their set was their forthcoming release Beam Me Up (Killmode), which received a huge reaction. Next to take the turntables was Hardwell, who followed the ongoing scene set by the Swedish duo with a powerful set brimming with energy. Including mashups at first thought would’ve been impossible, he managed to merge some of the biggest tracks in charts within his own chest of bangers. Bringing out the likes of; Encoded, Zero 76 and Spaceman, he also revealed a brand new single in a first play that got serious reception with its chord-progression build-up, and exuberant drop. Finishing on his now trademark edit of Internet Friends, before anyone had a chance to Like Hardwell’s Facebook page, his countryman Chuckie joined him to begin his set with a rendition of the classic ‘We Will Rock You’. Jeering the crowd up with his incredible power on the microphone, it wasn’t long before he got everyone jumping with the constantly referred Who Is Ready To Jump, pinpointing the energy levels of the nearly full crowd. Powering through tracks at a electrifying rate, the trademark Dirty Dutch style was emphasised to its full efficiency, as it succeeded in rounding up the crowd, just minutes before arguably the planet’s most hottest DJ took to the stage.

Now in with a 15,000 strong audience, Avicii took to the turntables in what was a huge production. Getting the crowd moving with his bootleg of Rob Duggan’s Clubbed To Death, it was a very similar opening to that of his at Electric Daisy Carnival. This included the two new tracks from Le7els assigned Alexander Adstedt, who’s dark delving beats sounded incredibly powerful within the massive bass-injection facility.

Swiftly after this, he played his own first ID, using it with the classic ‘I Need A Miracle’ by Coco, which is utilized by violin sounding chords, with a very infectious baseline, and of course filled with a robust melody. After then playing the selection of tracks associated with his sets of late; such as the Hells Bells and My Feelings For You mash, his own Fade Into Darkness, as well as his superb Spectrum and Sunshine mashup, the real talent of Avicii was exposed for the entire crowd to listen. It was then time for the sound of now known ‘ID 2‘ used with the vocals of his popular mix with ASH in Let Me Show You Love, however with a twist. Known to some as the follow up to Levels, the tweaking of his collaboration with ASH sounded different to the original copy he made, and premiered throughout last summer.

Then he reverted back to an all round appeal of his break-through Seek Bromance track mixed in with the fiery Cazzette remix, where following on he played another new track using the vocal line from Dave Armstrong’s classic Make A Move On Me, which once again brought out the dark chord play in Avicii’s production, however sounding more likely to be under his Tim Bergling stylings. Moving into the excellent Silhouettes, and the stand out track Mighty Love from the Eric Prydz album, he quickly transitioned into a piano build-up lead into what was a piece of melodic genius work. It was the final ID which had part of a synth progression, then a ongoing baseline kicked in for a warm appeal, into what potentially is another one of the Swede’s more warmer realms, set to be another huge single in waiting.

Quickly establishing that melody, he moved straight into the heavier conundrum again, with the huge baseline of Atom absolutely rocking the entire O2 Arena. With plays of Third Party and the Swedish House Mafia to follow, it was only justice for him to play the track the crowd were waiting for to cap off a superb night; Levels. Causing absolute euphoria amongst the audience, the reaction of 15,000 fans dancing imperiously to his biggest track was something that left Avicii knowing he had taken O2 Arena and made into a night club for the night.