Fresh off his BBC Radio 1’s Residency mix, Steve Angello brought his ‘Size’ family for a special one-off show hosted by Cream at London’s prestigious O2 Academy in Brixton on the 30th of May. In an interview with Billboard, Steve Angello promised fans a lot of new ‘Size’ music much to the delight of fans worldwide. With all the talk about Angello’s legendary ‘Size in the Park‘ party in Stockholm, there was a sense of anticipation as fans queued up well in advance outside one of Britain’s iconic music venues. With a star-studded line up comprising of Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman, Third Party, AN21 and Steve Angello himself to close the night, it promised to be a night of quality ‘Size’ music.
Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman kicked off the night with their unreleased track titled ‘Zonk’ which immediately got the crowd going. A unique feature at the O2 Academy in Brixton is it’s sloping dance floor. The floor slopes upwards from the stage giving every fan an amazing view of the stage irrespective of where one stands. The Swedish duo teased the crowd with various IDs never letting the energy levels drop. They ended their set with ‘Payback’, a track they have co-produced with Steve Angello much to the delight of the 3000 odd fans inside the venue.
After an energetic opening by Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman, Third Party took to the stage. The London duo playing in their home city received an extremely loud welcome. Their use of various acapellas in their set along with their trademark progressive beats ensured that the crowd was always singing along to the music making it a very interactive performance. Third Party played various mash-ups, notable ones being Major Lazer’s “Watch out for this” with Hard Rock Sofa’s “Rasputin“, the classic vocal sample of “In my mind” with the Sick Individuals edit of “Hold that sucker down” and last but not the least Taylr Renee’s beautiful vocals from “I am” with Tom Staar’s progressive anthem “Rocket“. Third Party played some new material too with their recently released single “Everyday of my life” being the highlight of their set.
Third Party was followed by the penultimate act of the show in Antoine Josefsson better known by his stage name AN21. AN21 started off with his summer classic with Steve Angello “Valodja” while the crowd merrily hummed in approval. While AN21 played his fair share of unreleased music, the highlight of his set was when he debuted his new single, which managed to gather a huge roar from the crowd. Another notable inclusion in his set was recently released record “iLL behavior” by CID and Mednas. If the sets so far were any indication, we can expect some superb music on Size Records in the near future just as Steve Angello had promised us in Miami a few months back.
Dance music is an art and Steve Angello is a master at his art. A grand four-minute opening that slowly blended into his classic tune “Show Me Love” had the crowd going crazy. The noise levels sky rocketed the moment he took the stage. One of the most impressive features of his performance was the stunning visual display on the LED screen that complimented his set throughout the two hours he performed. Fans were treated to an amazing live pyrotechnics display with plenty of CO2 cannons perfectly synchronizing with the music. Mixing effortlessly without headphones, he played track after track finding the perfect blend of unreleased, crowd pleasing and classic tracks. A confetti shower to go with Angello’s “Payback” and “SLVR” towards the end of his set guaranteed a picturesque ending to what had been an amazing night of dance music from start to finish. Steve Angello is one of the few DJs that controls his crowd with ease, evident when he played the acapella of The Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition” and “Children of the Wild” with lyrics on the LED board to assist the merry concert goers. A tune that received a lot of a lot of support from all four artists performing for the night was the amazing Axwell remix of Hook N Sling’s “Tokyo By Night” with the crowd happily singing along as all four acts played the record during their sets.
With the performers doing a great job, its important to praise the management for a great show that had minimal queuing, punctual set timings and even regular hydration for the loyal fans in the front row. This memorable event will arguably be regarded as the curtain raiser to an amazing festival season to follow in the United Kingdom.
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