David Guetta at Ultra 2012: how the Frenchman stole day 3
We still can’t quite put our finger on it, but there’s just something about David Guetta that is unparalleled by any other EDM artist on the planet. While he often gets some flack for creating more pop-style tracks and venturing away from pure “house music,” it’s impossible to deny that he is one of the most influential members of the dance music community.
“Do you realize what’s going on in the world — and in America especially?” he asked the crowd about halfway through his set. “Our music is taking over and it’s crazy!” he proclaimed as he prepared to drop his FMIF remix of “Memories.” “I never thought that one day this would happen, but it’s unbelievable.” He went on to deliver a classic Guetta set that combined brand new tracks with established favorites, and the end result was arguably one of the most fun sets of the entire weekend.
David started off with Alesso’s remix of “Titanium,” and quickly followed it up with his Nicky Romero collaboration “Wild One Two.” That was about as poppy as the set would get, as he quickly bumped up the energy and delivered a selection of tracks that was harder than sets we’ve seen from him in the past. Afrojack joined him to drop “Can’t Stop Me,” and at one point we also Benny Benassi, Steve Aoki, and Lil Jon in attendance as well. He followed it up with back to back Nicky Romero tracks: “Metropolis” and “Generation 303.”
Swedish House Mafia’s “Greyhound,” has received its fair share of play, but the addition of Example’s “The Way You Kissed Me” acapella made it a unique standout of the weekend. He also played “Turn Up The Bass” with “When Love Takes Over” and “Aerodynamic,” only to follow it up with another monster bootleg “Levels” with Gotye’s “Somebody that I Used to Know” acapella. There was a brief electro interlude added in as well, and the entire sequence was a highlight of the night. We joked on Twitter that Gotye’s vocal was destined to become the next “Rolling In The Deep” (in terms of becoming the de facto acapella to bootleg with virtually any track), and David adding it to his set only makes us more comfortable in that prediction.
As David began to drop “Memories,” he repeated the bit he did at Electric Zoo, and asked everyone to take out their cellphones so he could ” see all those lights” before letting out a prolonged “wooooweeeeeee” that brought smiles to faces all around.
He finished the set like he started it, by dropping familiar tracks that worked wonders with the already-entranced crowd. Nicky Minaj’s “Turn Me On” got a new electro edit to match the rest of the hard-hitting set, and he ended with the Usher collaboration, “Without You.” We thought that Kaskade would be a tough act to follow, and were simply blown away by Guetta’s mixing skills, track selection, and ability to read the crowd. The DJ talent at Ultra this year was simply off the charts so we’re not going to come out and call it the best set of the weekend, but it’s definitely up there.
I agree that David Guetta has great energy, but his mixing really WAS shabby compared to a lot of the other DJs. His set was fun, upbeat, and danceable- as we’ve all grown to expect. Nevertheless, a good set.
and were simply blown away by Guetta’s mixing skills, track selection, and ability to read the crowd….. LOL. you guys must be smoking something.
Not even a mention of how Armin came on after and pretty much put on a clinic of why he truly is the #1 DJ out there. I like this blog but if you really thought guetta mixed well there’s something seriously wrong here.
haha wow, this little article proves that you guys are the most biased blog out there. Truly the worst set of ultra, his levels mix was absolutely terrible literally shocking. Unoriginal and shyte song selection.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA wait….. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA OMG DANCING ASTRO, U MUST BE KIDDING ME?! IT ISN’T 1TH APRIL YET!
Chase and status was one of the best sets I’ve ever seen and armin threw down. Plus Arty is the best DJ of the week.
HAHAHAHAAHHHAHAHA what a joke
Yea and Avicci set was good too right?
Retarded article, just straight stupid…..
Guetta is popular, cuz he makes electro-pop music, The only good part of his set was dropping that Nicky Romero ID track that is just the hardest thing i’ve ever heard from him….
Yeah it was def alot better than his other sets I have heard but come on Fedde’s Set was fire and AVB after Guetta was so insane. Incredible set and best graphics on the stage. Floating over the city was nutsss.
Most of the DJs at Ultra didn’t do shit all on the decks, they just played a track, crossfaded to the next, let it play out, crossfade to the next, etc… David Guetta had some solid mixing in his set and whether you like it or not, it required more skill than the simple crossfading that a large part of the DJs at UMF did.
His live mashup of Turn Up The Bass with When Love Takes Over and Aerodynamic was solid too, so stop telling yourself that you are cool because you don’t listen to David Guetta, he is getting support from most of the world’s best DJs.
guetta can steal…but Armin was the show
He was cool but idk about mixing in “turn up the bass” like 4 times -_- I was shocked he did it 3 times but 4 ?? Lol he was cool and all but def Armin showed why he is Mr. Badass
You cant put a finger on it because there isn’t an X factor. Yes he put effort into his mix moreso than most dj’s did, but Carl Cox owned the first two days of the festival and day 3, it was the ASOT tent, Sander, Armin, Schossow, etc. Oh, and by the way, it’s MOOMBAH, not “turn up the bass.” The name only started an entire genre so maybe get it right next time?
did you guys forget about Laidback Luke he and Fedde le Grand had the best sets at Ultra!
Unfortunately Guetta has a bad influence on Nicky Romero he is a nice guy and a good producer but a terrible live dj.
Guys like Zedd, Porter Robinson and Madeon are the new generation and can DJ.
Steve Aoki and Guetta were the worst sets of ultra.
Most of the big guys play the same stuff and the same bootlegs and mashups.
Fatboy Slim was killin it as usual.
WTF was he doing playing around with the mixer on Avicii’s song? He was ruining Levels… and it’s not even his song. But definitely somehow he brought the most viewers to watch the UMFTV live stream simultaneously at one time.
if you dont have something positive to say, you should be spending your time finding something you love and makes YOU happy.. nuff said.
this is the biggest joke i have ever seen in my entire life. i am done reading this website. F U jacob!
the fuck is up with you people running this site? guetta was ok. get off his fucking cock for once u idiots. besides guetta sucking a fat D, the “DJ” that sucked more fat D’s than ever was Aoki, 50% if not more of his set was standing on the table, throwing water bottles at people, rafting, and throwing cakes at ppl. what kinda fucking DJing is this?! the guy is a fucking joke and a half. i hate his dumb fucking ass, the guy has zero passion towards DJing, his music blows, his productions are weak sauce and his sets have little or no energy. i cant believe he even gets gigs…..blows my mind. Armin destroyed it closing it out. what a fucking show he put on. also fedde, LBL and Fat boy slim did amazing work, like the best sets for sure these guys. other DJ’s did a good job also but Aoki was by far the worst and the dumbest shit ever. its just plain silly and retarted throwing cakes and shit. and guetta is always overhyped by DA. this site is starting to blow asshole
i will say metropolis and the romero id were the only worthwhile tracks from this set, good mixing or not track selection was SO predictable with the monkey wrench being sidney samson who blows asshole i was underwhelmed FEDDE FTW
Jacob Schulman should be fired and banned from covering any EDM events ever.
i think you guys are forgetting that JUSTICE stole the fucking weekend.
sparktape.wordpress.com
Im with you…wish Aoki would just fuckin stop. Fuckin moron! Sander Van Doorn’s set was also amazing!!
I have to agree with you on this!! no doubt!
apparently you havent checked out Guettas tracks “Paris” and “Glasgow” if thats the hardest you’ve heard from him.
The Nicky Minaj’s “Turn Me On” new electro edit is Michael calfan remix
im not sure why anyone commenting on this blog is shocked. DA used to be a solid website but its been very obvious that as time had passed they are one of the most mainstream sites around. always sucking the dicks of the big guys so that hopefully they can put their name on a show. what was once a good insightful website has sold out completely. its funny because they read the comments and will only comment back on things when the commenters dont shit on them. shows their character. used to come to this website a lot too, its sad
Both are good tracks, and he’s no doubt a good producer even though he loses cred in the edm scene for the poppy garbage he puts out
But that nicky romero track crushes not only the two tracks you mentioned, but everything else i’ve heard from him….
haha this is great
if no one on here saw gareth emery or dash berlin you have no right to even be commenting about who killed it or not. fedde always kills it, and guetta is a classic (despite sucking live), but TRANCE FOREVER
Guetta went about as hard as Madonna. DA is a fucking joke. Avicii, Guetta and Afrojack could put shit into a microphone and these guys would love it. You guys are to EDM what Good Charlotte is to Punk. A FUCKING JOKE
Why all the hate? What did you expect from a David Guetta set?
He has high energy, the full attention of the crowd… he DJ’s a fun, danceable, and unique set. I imagine all the hate here stems from hate for David as a producer. But what else do you want from the man? He is unimaginably successful, and has done wonders for the EDM community. He even neatly divided up his last album, and the second album was a very solid progressive-poppy-electro EDM album. I feel like people just hate him because he is successful and has “sold-out” because he makes music with American top-40 superstars. He does this because he can, and he has been around the EDM world his whole life. His mixing skills were superior to many of the DJ’s at Ultra, his track selection was more unique then many, and more people showed up and tuned in online, to watch his show then any other.
With all this being said, if you are an EDM enthusiast and hate what people like Guetta are doing in the dance music world, then fine. Make your comment. But why in the world are you calling DA out for it? They (along with many EDM fans) enjoy a fun, energetic, happy and engaging set from a DJ. They are writing reviews of shows and releasing music to you on a daily basis. You can come to the site if you like, and look at other sites if you like. If you want to hate on someone for writing their opinion on a blog (an opinion based forum) then continue to do so and really ultimately embarrass yourself. Nobody cares. Yes, people like Fedde put on amazing sets, as always. But why does this need to lead to hate on others? This music has deep seeded roots in acceptance, love, and empathy. So negative commenters, probably the same people who hated on DA when they listed their favorite tracks of 2011, nobody cares, stop hating, and read another blog if DA is not for you.
track selection was most certainly not unique. and if the no one cares about the hater comments why do they have the most likes? its not that people just come to this site to hate. its people who have been visiting this site and cant stand when DA is truly just writing biased blogs based on how big of a name a person is, especially since some of the writers at DA have written plenty of reviews and gone to countless shows you would think that they would get tired of the same old shit, or atleast know a good set from a poor one
After reading this article I am done with following DA. Can anyone suggest any EDM blogs that have substance?
i’m really shocked at all the hate on here. adding on to what Michael said..
i agree that David Guetta’s track listing was pretty mediocre and that nowadays there are producers and djs coming up with better songs and mixes than him. but you can’t deny that he put on a fun, high energy show (albeit predictable) and his enthusiasm and love for EDM is contagious and admirable. i find it hard to hate David Guetta for that much. that being said, whatever you feel about David Guetta, don’t take it out on Dancing Astronaut. one of the things i love most about the EDM community is how most of us are open to all types of music and can agree that music is subjective to everybody. if you don’t like what you’re reading then find another blog to read. the all high and mighty, snooty attitude is unnecessary.
I checked out couple of sets. Must say the trance side of the EDM Community killed it, along with Fedde.
ill make sure to keep getting it wrong :P hehe jk sorry i hurt your feelings, i was typing up my comment really fast anyways
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErMDU-pu-0
You are all jumping on the hate bandwagon. Make your own opinions and for once stop saying what everyone else is saying. Can’t you guys use your own head and reach your own conclusions?
David Guetta is a great artist and has some really good tracks, especially some without any words/singers in it. I have been following Guetta for years upon years, and I’ve liked him them, and I like him even more now.
Can any on you guys tell me what song he played the one before Metropolis?
Wer you guys at the same Guetta set as i was at ultra ?? … It was nothing specially ! I have seen him few times in Ireland , London and in Ibiza (many times) But ultra 2012 his mixing was nothing special and whatever he was trying to do with Avicii – Levels “”Bootleg”" was terrible and didnt work!
I think for a Dj at the peak of his career he should of delivered something alot better at such a big and may i add awesome festival!
He played the exact same set the next weekend at I love this City