More about: Calvin Harris

The world’s best paid DJ, Calvin Harris, took to Roundhouse with a spectacular stage show on Friday night as part of the Apple Music Festival.

This remarkable festival, which manages to get talent who would normally sell out the biggest venues in the world to intimate surrounds, was blessed to have someone who could pull out all the stops like Harris did.

Although there may have only been 2,000 people in the actual show, people were able to live stream the show from all over the world. The show felt enginnered for the masses, there was nothing low key about this.

Harris played his decks from a raised triangular platform with hallucinogenic moving imagery projected onto it and the huge screens behind him as lasers heightened the immersive visual experience.

The Scottish star, whose real name is Adam Wiles, was also buoyed by regular pyrotechnics with flames that would rocket out around the perimeter of the stage when the biggest drops in the beat hit.

Set-wise, he had the whole crowd hooked as he bounded through the hits. It’s remarkable that he has the record for more number one hits from one album than any one else in the world.

Stand outs included ‘Hype’ feat. Dizzee Rascal. The combination of Harris’ dance production with grime is a beautiful one. Given Skepa’s win at The Mercury Prize, it felt like a moment very much in touch with the sonic fabric of London today. More collaborations of this essence would be strong way for the Harris to go in the future.

Harris' cover of Fatboy Slim’s ‘Eat Sleep Rave Repeat' received a superb reaction as the feel of a festival headline show prevailed. Moreover, ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, as a sultry innuendo filled delight, translated well live keeping the atmosphere which was full throttle from the beginning in fifth gear.

Ultimately, Harris is everything a top DJ should be: he makes huge pop hits and pulls out all the stops live to give people a different experience of how they hear them on record. The soundsystem supported the a huge cranking of bottom end, which at a high tempo moments echoed the experience of being in a more niche high octane dance night and expressed what Harris assumedly wants to get out of a club night himself. He’ll be in demand to headline a lot more festivals after this and he's upped the bar of what watching someone fiddle with some decks on stage should entail.

Calvin Harris played........

Sweet Nothing (feat. Florence Welch)
Bounce (feat. Kelis)
This Is What You Came For (feat. Rihanna)
Flashback
Under Control (feat. Hurts)
Bomb A Drop
Feel So Close
Eat Sleep Rave Repeat (Fatboy Slim cover)
Spectrum (Say My Name) (Florence + the Machine cover)
Dark River
Outside (feat. Ellie Goulding)
Hype (feat. Dizzee Rascal)
Drinking From the Bottle (feat. Tinie Tempah)
Cream (Federico Franchi cover)
Thinking About You (feat. Ayah Marar)
I Need Your Love (feat. Ellie Goulding)
My Love Is Real
Blame (feat. John Newman)
Devotion
C.U.B.A
Open Wide (feat. Big Sean)
We Found Love(feat. Rihanna)
We'll Be Coming Back(feat. Example)
How Deep Is Your Love (with Disciples)
Summer
My Way

More about: Calvin Harris