Calvin Harris vs David Guetta live at iTunes Festival
- By Adam Holden -
- Sep 18, 2012
London, Saturday night, iTunes Festival, David Guetta – would seem like the worthy ingredients for any party. However, in reality, it was Guetta’s choice of music that was up for debate.
Playing in Camden’s Roundhouse as part of Apple’s free month-long festival, DJ Mag’s World Number One disc jockey failed to deliver a set of any substance and was outdone by the big hitting support act of Calvin Harris. With the Scottish producer/disc jockey warming the crowd for the Ibiza star, it almost seemed like someone had pulled the old Scooby Doo trick of deception and switched the sets around.
Harris, who had a hit debut album in 2007 with ‘I Created Disco’ has since started to rub shoulders with some of the music industry’s big boys, or should I say girls, after producing his own music and allowing the likes of Rihanna and Florence to put their encapsulating voices over his beats. With collaborative chart hits like ‘We Found Love’ and ‘Sweet Nothing’ it is easy to comprehend why Harris would make the perfect support act for the man who just seems to be in everyone’s music video right now – David Guetta.
However, there was a huge difference between their sets. Harris fundamentally delivered a full on house set, whereas Guetta opted for pure cheddar, a phrase that seems to be following Guetta wherever he goes at the moment, which is a shame, as the veteran Frenchman is undoubtedly a master behind the decks and in the studio.
With the Roundhouse aesthetically transformed into a club for the evening, CO2 canisters, lasers and all sorts of lighting decoratively covered the arena. Harris came on stage just after 9pm to a rousing reception from the fortuitous ticket holders who were chosen by lottery for the gig.
Opting for a more harder sound than Guetta finished on, Harris ran through an 80 minute set that comprised of many Swedish House Mafia songs, Daft Punk mixes and Chemical Brothers samples. Unusual for a dance event, but keeping in with the festival theme, there was a break between the acts. With the crowd rested, rejuvenated and ready to dance hard for another hour and a half, Guetta took to the stage in his classic black leather jacket.
Being the most pervasive and ubiquitous disc jockey in the industry at the moment, Guetta is being hailed as the first man to break the American industry with electronic music and reap the rewards, as the US enter a genre of music they created and have overlooked for decades, which they now call EDM – electronic dance music.
With the decibel level most definitely raised for the Frenchman, the fireworks were set off quickly after he dropped his first few beats, breaks and drops. Nonetheless, as the set continued, the cheese began to ooze out of the ‘When Love Takes Over’ producer. Talking over the microphone more than is needed, it wasn’t long before he was seemingly stuck in his trademark pose of holding the volume knob, turning to one side and giving his cheesy smile bouncing away.
As the heat intensified, Guetta stripped down to his vest and continued to blast out the cheddar. By the time he had finished, huge gaps had materialised around the dance floor, although it wouldn’t be fair to blame Guetta’s choice of music for that, as many leave to make sure they catch the tube home in time.
With the crowd chanting for one more song, the world renowned DJ chose to blast out Black Eyed Peas ‘I Got a Feeling’; hardly a song that would please your most avid dance fan but seemed to go down a treat in the Roundhouse. A peculiar evening that portrayed Guetta’s heavily pop-influenced side.
Images by iTunes Festival
By Adam Holden.
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