Ultra Music Festival's MC introduced David Guetta as "the man that means more to electric dance music than anyone in the United States."
Hmm, of all time? Definitely not. At the moment? You could make a strong argument for that.
Is he the DJ currently making the most money off of it in the US? Yeah, definitely. And at Ultra last night, he proved why.
He started out with his Sia-featuring single "Titanium." And he kept the Sia flowing with his remix of her and Flo-Rida's track "Wild Ones." For better or worse, Guetta wasn't going to play anything that wasn't of the moment.
He moved on to "Can't Stop Me," during which the song's co-producer -- Afrojack -- came out for a bit of a bow and a wave. Guetta and Jack then turned away from the decks to pose for a few snapshots with Steve Aoki and Lil Jon. Not sure what to make of a "performance" DJ who turns away from his deck for an impromptu photo shoot. But, uh, OK.
Hey, though, Guetta is a studio guy nowadays, and he unleashed a fresh new cut on the crowd with the world premier of his latest single, "Metropolis," co-starring Nicky Romero. By world premiere, we mean it's been online for a few weeks now. But apparently, this was the first time Guetta actually played it during a live show.
After a quick detour down the "When Love Takes Over" expressway (and even if it sort of deflated most of the dudely fist-pumping action in the audience, we do love that song), Guetta moved on the centerpiece of his set.
So what was the biggest song of Ultra? Avicii's "Levels." And what is the biggest non-EDM song among EDM fans at the moment? Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know." (Man, remember when Gotye was only relevant in EDM circles for rejecting a Supermayer remix? Look at that bro now).
Well, Guetta decided to smash the two together by playing Gotye's vocals over Avicci's beat. Depending on your point of view it was a bit of weekend-summarizing genius or a bit too obvious.
After finishing with Gotye, Guetta wasn't done with Avicci's beat yet. He stretched and mixed that track to extremes for at least 10 minutes before returning to his own track with "Memories."
Guetta cut the music for a bit to talk in his French accent about the "sousands and sousands and sousands of pahty people" in the crowd, and then to crow about how "especially in America ... our music is taking over." Guetta's radio ubiquity certainly attests to the fact that a narrow strain of EDM-inspired music is, well, more popular. The fact that the closing portion of his set included two of his latest radio smashes -- "Turn Me On" and "Without You" -- proves it.
As the reigning prince of pop house, you don't want to do anything to put your status in jeopardy. So Guetta's set seemed safe at best. It was a bit too obvious. It strained for recognition. It was simple and crowd pleasing.
But when you're "the man that means more to electric dance music than anyone in the United States," we guess you have to play towards people's expectations.
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