Back in June, the Swedish House Mafia trio of Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello shocked electronic music fans worldwide with an announcement that the proceeding tour would be their last. Soon, the opportunity was given to fans to piece together clues to uncover the destinations of ‘One Last Tour‘, which would range from Singapore to San Francisco to Stockholm.
Although it was something that had to be done – playing to their faithful fans a final few times – it has simply gone too far.
The tour represents the biggest flaws of the so-called EDM ‘craze’: overpricing, lack of integrity and repetitiveness.
For many fans of dance music, the majority of which fit in the 18-25 age demographic, money doesn’t come easy. We spend gobs of cash on shows and festivals every year because we love the atmosphere, the people and most importantly, the music itself. A rave is an unmatched experience.
Exploiting an Experience
Charging ridiculous sums for your shows (even to fans in upper level seats, watering down the experience) to play a likely pre-meditated set of the same old tracks is just cruel. Guys, is it really necessary to open every set with ‘We Come, We Rave, We Love’ and ‘Greyhound‘? Does that not ever get boring?
DJing is about reading the crowd, being unpredictable and pushing the envelope. Most that take to the decks attempt to show off their hard work in the studio, but I suppose that’s hard when you only have six singles and one remix in a six-year career as a group.
Before I go deeper, I must say that I respect what Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello have done for progressive music in terms of introducing a catchy, energetic genre to millions of people. Their passion for the craft, which involves spending weeks away from their wives and toddlers, has never been questioned.
The skepticism, however, lies within the execution.
They’ve whored themselves out to the world, adding shows in the same cities after selling out quickly while having promoters overcharge for underwhelming sets full of overplayed Beatport chart toppers. ‘Quasar’, ‘Resurrection’, ‘Knas’ and ‘In My Mind’ are among the list of tracks that seem to make appearances almost every night.
ASK YOURSELF. WHAT WAS SPECIAL, UNIQUE? WILL ‘ONE LAST TOUR’ BE DEFINED AS ANYTHING MORE THAN AN OBVIOUS NOTION OF FAREWELL?
Yes, the sets are repetitive, but hey, the music’s great – who cares? For some, masking the unoriginality with admittedly impressive production has worked, using never-ending LED screens, fog machines and mind-blowing pyrotechnics. For others, such as myself watching, listening and studying from afar, it hasn’t. In ‘One Last Tour’, Swedish House Mafia was out for their fans but also a massive payday, some of which went back towards production.
In a recent article in Rolling Stone, Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso estimated that production costs range from $250,000 to $500,000 every night.
“We make a profit, but I have no idea how much.” -Axwell
Furthermore, ‘One Last Tour’ became one giant cliche, from the flag waving to the newborn motto ‘We Came, We Raved, We Loved’ to the introductions (we know who you are).
Playing to droves of droopy-eyed teenagers experimenting with drugs for the first time and wealthy 20-somethings in buttondowns, the men of SHM are gods to some, playing big room melodies night after night that cause their fans to erupt. But some of those fans are delusional as to what is really going on.
Swedish House Mafia performing at Hammerstein Ballroom for the Black Tie Charity Rave
Don’t take this as a pissed off blogger out to rain on a Swedish parade, I’d consider myself a fan but I’m questioning the way they’ve gone about the end of their careers. It’s almost like a diehard fan of a NFL team watching their favorite player take a giant payday elsewhere after years of starring on the same team. The good memories are there but it’s a tough pill to swallow and it’s easy to lose respect.
At the same time, I’m not against giving credit where credit is due because they have accomplished many things that their fellow DJs couldn’t. Our beloved genre of music wouldn’t be where it is today without these three men clad in all black.
“Putting a nightclub in Madison Square Garden”, to quote Steve Angello, back in December 2011 was a monumental stepping stone for the genre. That feat – becoming the first DJ act to headline MSG (and selling out in nine minutes) – was unbelievable at the time. That set the tone for their counterparts Tiesto and Kaskade to achieve similar success at L.A.’s Staples Center.
Charitable Addition
The ‘Black Tie Rave’ show in New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom (view photos) benefiting Hurricane Sandy relief efforts is another one. Giving back to the city that has given them so much was truly a classy move.
But was that an effort to put a blanket over the rest of the so-called controversy? It could be.
The technical skills that they’ve proven in their respective individual shows simply isn’t present when they come together. Questioning? Go on YouTube. One of them spins knobs, the other mans the microphone (usually Axwell, shouting somewhat unintelligible commands and praise) while the third claps his hands high.
Individually, Sebastian Ingrosso, Axwell and Steve Angello are insanely talented and will have big careers on their own. Collectively, they didn’t come close to reaching their potential in the studio. Swedish House Mafia has made a killing off of playing other people’s mashups and remixes.
In their ascent, timing was everything. Electronic dance music was on the uptick in 2011 and SHM benefited from that. It’s not farfetched to say that half of the people that attended ‘One Last Tour’ hadn’t been paying attention to house music very long.
I applaud them on their accomplishments, however I look on with judgmental eyes. To quote a November tweet from Deadmau5: “can’t wait for the shm reunion tour in 3 months.”
Are we alone here? Tell us your thoughts and opinions…
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This article is complete bull to be honest. Yea some of the set was pretty planned and all 3 of them aren’t working the decks. It’s usually one and the other two just clap. But you can’t deny their 6 productions have basically brought house into the mainstream. I attended the 3rd to last SHM show ever in LA and it truly was one of the best experiences ever.