KSHMR is undoubtedly one of the unique entities in dance music right now. The way he has managed to innovate in big room EDM is awe-worthy, but one of his best tricks is that he always ups the scale. As one of the live headliners for recently concluded Ultra Music Festival in Miami, KSHMR brought a whole new touch to his live sets with a team of 8 musicians and an Indian traditional dance group of 5 female dancers accompanying him.
Those who have watched him live before know that his sets go with an imaginary story around Kashmir and this one was no different. Opening with his stellar collab with Marnik and Mitika Kanwar, ‘Mandala‘, KSHMR was only taking it higher. With a stunning orchestral buildup of strings and trumpet, Niles drops ‘Toca‘ with Timmy Trumpet live on trumpet duties. Working his way through an ID and some of his best tunes, he soon dropped his masterful remix of Ramin Djawadi‘s Game Of Thrones theme song. Taking the story forward, the whole band brings in KSHMR’s collaboration with Marnik, “Bazaar” for the break. Same happened with ‘Tsunami‘ and ‘Jammu‘ after a couple of songs. Upping the Indian cultural impact, the dance group takes the stage with their traditional moves.
After the Paradesi version of ‘Kashmir’, Niles dropped a surprise like he did when he dropped “Kajra Re” and “Ek Do Teen” out of nowhere. Paying tribute toBollywood music, KSHMR played his full-fledged cover of “Jimmy Jimmy Aaja” from 1982 movie Disco Dancer. With his signature touch and Mitika Kanwar on vocals, this cover magnetised the audience and was caught by surprise yet again as he mixed in ‘Karate‘ on the drop. The live rendition of ‘Dharma‘ followed and took the energy even higher. Again after a couple of songs, the live version of ‘Burn‘ entranced the audience. Soon the final interlude of the story followed and the live rendition of his ending song as usual, ‘Kashmir‘.
Ultimately, KSHMR has proved why he was the best live act winner for DJ Mag Top 100 as he set himself on a totally new level with his live set. Embracing his Indian heritage, he brought a taste of India to Ultra before Ultra heads to India later this year and how!
Stream his set in full below!
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