SUMMER FESTIVALS
David Guetta. Inset: Étienne de Crécy. Below: Deadmau5.
P H O T O
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R E A C H F O R T H E L A S E R S !
With DJs taking over festival mainstages Jonny Ensall asks, who has the chops to put on a great live show?
P icture the scene. Dusk has fallen on the festival site. Tens of thousands of inebriated and euphoric festivalgoers have assembled at the main stage. They’re waiting for the headliner, whooping and hollering in anticipation. Then it happens: a guy ambles onstage wearing a T-shirt and jeans. He presses a small button on an unseen control panel. He left clicks his mouse. Pre-recorded music erupts from the speakers . . . and the crowd goes wild.
It’s not exactly Woodstock is it? No one is, for example, playing a guitar with his teeth. But the number of guys in T-shirts and jeans (also known as dance acts) headlining major festivals this summer proves that we are now living in the age of the super producer- as-celebrity. These stars are expected not only to pump out their four-to-the-fl oor bangers but also to provide a spectacle. So who has got the brightest lasers, highest hands in the air, or biggest cartoon mouse head? In other words, which of these dance titans has what it takes to wow?
David Guetta, Skrillex and Swedish House Mafi a are at T in the Park. Deadmau5 and Étienne de Crécy are at RockNess.
EDEN FESTIVAL FRI 15–SUN 17 JUN DUMFRIES
Truly mixing up traditional Scottish music with
contemporary pop, Eden’s bill boasts Badly Drawn Boy, Beans on Toast and Peatbog
Faeries.
28 THE LIST 24 May–21 Jun 2012
DAVID GUETTA DAVID GUETTA If you’re the world’s most popular DJ, with mega-hits jangling in your pockets like loose change, all you have to do is stick one on and lead the sing-a-long. Easy-peasy, and very cheesy. HANDS IN THE AIR RATING: (cid:44)(cid:44) SKRILLEX Ever wondered what that noise is coming from the overloud headphones of the 13-year-old on the bus? Why, it’s Skrillex. The wunderkind popstep (dubstep pop, obv.) producer has an army of young fans happy enough to watch him fl icking his hair out of his eyes through the glare of popping strobe
bulbs, so you don’t have to.
HANDS IN THE AIR RATING: (cid:44)(cid:44)
DEADMAU5 A man, a giant
rodent head and lots and lots of progressive house music. It was always going to be a recipe for success. The hugely popular
Canadian producer
and infectious head nodder performs nfectious head nodder performs atop a giant, glowing cube, balanced on one corner – think Tron: Legacy, with a Mickey Mouse cameo. HANDS IN THE AIR RATING: (cid:44)(cid:44)(cid:44)(cid:44)
SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA The eponymous Swedes are Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello, and you’re invited to their party. Waving your hands in the air like you just don’t care: mandatory. There’s no real reason why three dudes have to tag-team the turntables, but SHM do have an astonishing light show. HANDS IN THE AIR RATING: (cid:44)(cid:44)(cid:44) ÉTIENNE DE CRÉCY Étienne Bernard Marie de Crécy launched his game-changing Beats and Cubes stageshow in 2008. Crécy resides in the middle of the Celebrity Squares-alike, nine-section, 20 foot- high structure while lights move inside to create a series of mind-warping optical effects. Watch the video at bit.ly/ beatsandcubes. Live dance music can be clever, breathtaking, and much more than idol worship for some strutting berk, and Crécy proves it. HANDS IN THE AIR RATING: (cid:44)(cid:44)(cid:44)(cid:44)(cid:44)
LOVEBOX
FRI 15–SUN 17 JUN VICTORIA PARK, LONDON Grace Jones, Lana Del Rey and Mika offer up a feast of camp pop for the Lovebox lovers at this trendy East
London weekender.
ISLE OF WIGHT THU 21–SUN 24 JUN NEWPORT
Famous for resurrecting ancient rock stars, Isle of Wight impresses again with Tom Petty and The
Heartbreakers, Bruce
Springsteen and Pearl Jam.