If you’re at all familiar with house or electronic music, one artist that most likely comes to mind is Avicii.
Swedish DJ Tim Berg, who goes by the stage name Avicii, has become one of the most well-know musicians in his genre over the past few years. From performing sold-out shows to snagging the 6th spot on DJ Mag’s top 100 DJs of 2011, Avicii is rising to be one of the youngest—he’s only 22—and newest successful DJs of his generation.
One thing Avicii is best known for is his ability to put on a great show and customize his set for the city he’s in, and his Nov. 18 show at the D.C. Armory was no exception. The concert, part of a two-night event called Super Glow at the D.C. Armory, also featured DJ Mag’s number two DJ, Armin van Buuren, and was supported by Live Nation, one of the country’s largest concert promoters, according to whompingstereo.com.
Playing for a sold-out crowd, which included 10,000 attendees with many University of Maryland and D.C. college students, Avicii played a set that kept the crowd’s energy up throughout the show.
One way he accomplished this was by actually joining the crowd in enjoying the music. “I especially liked his performance because he would fist pump and dance along with the rest of the crowd and was getting into the music just as much as we were,” sophomore Alison Schumacher said.
He built up the energy by starting off with some of his slower tracks including his and DJ Sebastian Drums’, “My Feelings For You” and remixes of Nadia Ali’s “Rapture” as well as “Drowning” by Armin van Buuren and Laura V.
“I really loved all the songs he played, and I thought it was interesting that he played songs that weren’t his but were still very popular among the audience,” Schumacher said. “He put his own spin on the songs and made them his.”
From there, Avicii’s songs began to pump up the crowd more as he dropped more well known tracks like Steve Angelo, AN21 and Max Vengelli’s “The Island” remix, and the Albin Myers remix of “Fade Into Darkness,” before playing his number one anthem of the year “Levels.” When “Levels” came on, the already-hyped mass started jumping up and down with their hands in the air, united in their excitement for this track.
The one criticism Schumacher had for the show was that Avicii didn’t play “Blessed,” one of his more popular songs, because she said the beat is really great to dance to and she thought the audience would have enjoyed it.
Avicii kept the momentum going with dropping beats like Tiesto and Diplo’s “C’mon” and Swedish House Mafia’s “Leave the World Behind.” The bright colorful lights and the blaring music combined to create what some considered the best set they’ve heard from Avicii so far.
“I also saw Avicii in June at Fur Night Club, but I thought this performance was even better because it was a bigger crowd and the environment at the armory was just more fun and made the music more powerful, “ sophomore Samar Ayyub said.
Another great aspect of Avicii’s performances is his ability to tailor his set to the crowd he’s performing for. The many University of Maryland students that encompassed the massive conglomeration went wild and literally started screaming when the hook from Zombie Nation’s “Kernkraft 400” came on.
This song is famous at Maryland because it’s played at most of the football and basketball games to get the crowd pumped up and usually includes students shouting the words “F*ck Duke!” throughout.
“Playing [Kernkraft 400] just showed that Avicii really thinks about the songs he’s going to play and how he can best connect with his audience,” Ayyub said. “It was so awesome and surprising when he played that song.”
Schumacher added she really liked Avicii’s show at the Armory because the larger crowd made for a much more exciting environment. “It was basically one huge dance party to his music and seeing Avicii dance along with us is fun.” She added that the light show really made the performance even better.
Overall, it seems that Avicii made a good impression on the D.C./Maryland area. “This was my first time seeing Avicii, but most likely won’t be the last,” Ayyub said. “He really knows how to put on a great show and it’s definitely a fun concert to go to with a bunch of friends to just have fun and dance.”