As another mind-blowing year of Ultra Music Festival came to an end with two music-filled thrilling weekends of dollops of revelry. Yet amongst the umpteen number of enthralling sets, one particular set which is now a much talked about story has been the hot topic of conversation in the dance music world in the past few days viz. Avicii’s controversial set at Ultra’s Weekend 2.

For people who didn’t get the chance to view the set on the incredible Ultra Live youtube feature here’s what happened, approximately midway through Avicii’s standard lineup of house tracks, the set suddenly came to a halt leaving some confused but then again the young Swede had a plan up his sleeve! The massive sound setup stopped churning out tracks and instead the thousands of fans present were treated to an unusual medley of acoustic performances featuring bluegrass artist Mac Davis, members of the band Incubus and the rapper Aloe Blacc. Word was that all of the performances were apparently snippets from Avicii’s upcoming album due out this summer.

Needless to say, this unique experience definitely caused quite a stir in the dance music community amongst the festivalgoers and video streamers who thought they would be getting something quite different from the Swedish icon and even from some of the stalwarts of the industry, some of whom accused Avicii of “jumping the EDM shark” and made fun of the “country music” that graced Ultra’s main stage.

Here are some of the best reactions posted by some of the best from the community.

Avicii expectedly has defended his creative choices, saying that a lot of set viewers “didn’t understand,” and that “people will soon see what [this new sound] is all about”. The Swede also went on to issue a response to the controversy through his Facebook as well, saying:

The general word seems to be that Avicii is walking a tightrope by gambling that his name & recognition can carry forth to an experimental project in a music scene which though we all love and appreciate may not be very welcoming of the change. Whether such an unproven experiment can succeed in the global arena remains to be seen, since for the most part producers are expected to have a consistent sound, and are known by the genre of the music they create.

Perhaps this new era of digitalized music and distribution has made these creative experiments easier and more accessible to the public. Then again on the other hand, Avicii might be overestimating himself in embarking on this unprecedented creative journey and expecting the public to respond positively.

Can the Swedish house magnate pull off what most people view as a strange and unexpected turn in his sound?  Only time will tell.