One of the final opening parties of the season went down last night as Avicii returned to Ushuaïa. As you walked into the open-air venue playing host, you could pass through a tunnel of the Swedish EDM superstar's head, as if guided by that colourful musical brain of his.
Upon entrance, Didrick greeted me with a remix of Uptown Funk, before Arty came in with mix of shooting synth lines and hip-hop drum rolls. Girls were dancing on stadiums in the pool, dressed in rainbow swimsuits, pouts in tow. There's nothing quite like the first release of the ice cannon, which occured halfway through, cooling down the front rows. Arty put plenty of energy into it and jumped around on stage, as Swedish House Mafia's Save The World ripped through the speakers and a remix of Years & Years' King excited attendees.
Fedde Le Grand was fifteen minutes late, resulting in a moment of silence between sets, but he soon played out Fatboy Slim's Praise You with bouncing electro synths. The sight of aeroplanes coming in to land is a defining feature of the venue which left people looking up into the sky in awe as we boogied with our feet on the ground. People were still spilling into the hotel after 9pm, well in time to catch the headliner. The crowd had fully immersed itself into the party, surrounding the stage and towers to get a better view, girls dancing on shoulders.
Verses to popular songs from Coldplay's Paradise, Calvin Harris' Summer to Hozier's Take Me To Church were introduced and all enjoyed, before slicing breakdowns followed the floating melodies. The decking-clad dancefloor surrounding the pools was now full to the brim. Again, silence between sets caused an awkward ten minutes standing around, which left us wondering if Avicii had forgot to come to his own party. Nevertheless, all was forgiven when he was in sight, with a cap on backwards of course. The anticipation now over, a rumbling bass line was introduced before he dropped his new track Waiting For Love. Bright colours circled him and fireworks were set off, the stage now fully in action.
Guitar riffs were in abundance, and his combination of country with dance made his two-hour set the most interesting musically and softer than previous sets. During 2014 track The Nights it was clear all present were fans; Avicii cut up the song continuously, with large screen footage showing him doing so amongst barking wolves. As the vocal line to his 2012 hit with Nicky Romero, I Could Be the One was played, the joy was contagious. All the way from front to back, people were dancing, something that will be here to stay on Sunday evenings until the closing party on August 30th.
WORDS | Emma Gillett PHOTOGRAPHY | Ushuaïa
