This weekend I went to see Swedish House Mafia’s show in Johannesburg, and all I can say is: EPIC!!
In case you didn’t know, Swedish House Mafia are a trio of house music producers and DJs, consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso.
Sebastian Ingrosso; Axwell; Steve Angello
The DJ’s have, over the years, released music on their own, as well as together and have been very successful in both endevours. They have officially been together since 2008, but in these last 4-5 years, the supergroup have been called “the faces of mainstream progressive house music”, having placed at number 10 on the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ Poll in 2011.
Axwell (@Axwell) placed #12 on the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ Poll in 2011 produced the hit “I Found U” and “Watch The Sunrise”, which peaked at #6 in the UK Singles Chart but has otherwise been producing remixes for other artists, including Usher’s “Burn”, N*E*R*D’s “Maybe”, Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous and Madonna’s “Jump”. In 2012, he released the single “In My Mind” on Beatport.
Steve Angello (@SteveAngello) placed #23 on the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ Poll in 2011 and his remix of Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams” was what really put him in the limelight. He produces under a number of different aliases, from Who’s Who, Buy Now, Fireflies, General Moders, Mode Hookers, Outfunk and The Sinners, most of which are with his childhood friend Sebastian Ingrosso. Most recently, they’ve release “Bodycrash” under Buy Now. He has worked with Erik Prydz under the name A&P Project and with group member, Axwell, under the name Supermongo/Supermode. He also owns his own record lable, Size Records.
I got my ticket!!
Sebastian Ingrosso (@SebIngrosso) placed #26 on the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ Poll in 2011 and won the award for the highest new entry into the chart in 2009, a record which has only been beaten by Deadmau5 in 2008. Sebastian is the creator of musical hits such as “How Soon Is Now”, “Calling”, “Reload” and “Cupid Boy” for Kylie Minogue.
On June 24, 2012, the group announced on their website that their upcoming tour would be their last. “Today we want to share with you, that the tour we are about to go on will be our last. We want to thank every single one of you that came with us on this journey. We came, we raved, we loved.” The tour, aptly named “One Last Tour”, kicked offi n November 2012 and will end in March. There has been a great response to the tour, with the group having to add extra shows to their roster. There is also a final appearance at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, with an opening set on March 15 and a closing set on March 24, which I am sure will be phenomenal.
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in regards to the group’s breakup, Angello said that “we just decided that we reached a point where we didn’t know what the next move would be,” and that “we’ve had beyond our dreams and we’ve come very, very far”; Angello also stated that he is focusing on developing his own label, Size Records, while on hiatus.
For the fans…
The boys have a “One Last Tour” website for their fans, where they have, not only put up information about their tour dates and shows, but have allowed their fans to experience this tour with them by blogging about their time since they went on tour. There is a section where you can “Ask SHM A Question”, a tour gallery and a fan photo gallery where the fans can upload their pics from the shows.
For the fans who would like something to remember SHM by, there is Take One: A Documentary Film About Swedish House Mafia, made by director Christian Larson a few years ago. They have also compiled a book in honour of their final compilation, called Until One: Book Edition, which you can download for free from the website or at (http://www.onelasttour.com/UntilOne-book-edition.pdf). In Sebastian Ingrosso’s own words, it is like a family album chronicling their incredible journey from childhood to their travels around the globe and the success of their music. They are also keeping a tour book, filled with information about the countries they were in, the things they did whilst there and lots of pretty pictures for their fans, and they are constantly updating it.
Jhb Love
Saturday Night’s show, their second in Johannesburg was one hell of a goodbye to their fans, and I had one of the best seats in the house. The crowds came out in their thousands and by the time I got there it was too late to reserve a front row spot for myself. As a really short person, my main aim was to atleast be able to see one of the screens, but after some walking around and manouvering, I lucked out. I got a really good spot next to a railing on the right hand side of the stage where I could see, not only the screen clearly, but also a part of the stage and the three DJs themselves. I will admit that I ended up climbing onto the railing and balancing against a tree, and from my vantage point I saw EVERYTHING! I watched the whole show from halfway up that tree and what a show it was. The music was incredible, the lights and laser show was on point and the fireworks…WOW! As I screamed and jumped my way through “Save The World”, “Euphoria”, “Leave The World Behind” and “Don’t You Worry Child”, I shared that tree with two girls from Israel with whom I quickly made fast friends, bonding over the beauty of music and the atmosphere of pure, unadulterated joy that surrounded everyone.
Waving the SA flag…
There were a few highlights for the evening, such as when the mafia all pulled out South African flags, Axwell screaming: “Tonight we are the South African House Mafia, you guys are amazing!”, and when the mafia asked everyone to sit down and all 20 000 people in that arena actually sat down! Now that’s what I call power and influence, or maybe we were all just under their spell.
All 20 000 South Africans sat down!
Either way, I left in a daze of joy that felt so amazing
Thank you to Swedish House Mafia for such an incredibly amazing time. Without a doubt, that was THE show of my life!
Turn Off Your Brain, Turn On Your Heart ❤
minx sa 