Thomas Gold at EDC NY: the bootleg master scores a touchdown at MetLife Stadium (review)
Thomas Gold’s livesets are widely considered among the DA team to be some of the best in the business, so you can imagine how excited we were to see him return to the festival environment at the inaugural Electric Daisy Carnival New York. Just like last Summer when he came to New York’s Governors Island, Thomas posted up with the Size Matters crew — including Steve Angello, AN21, and Max Vangeli — to bring his masterful DJing prowess to the imprint’s very own stage, which was actually set up inside MetLife Stadium. Keep reading for a recap of how things went down on the field.
It’s probably not surprising that Thomas opened up with his most recent remix of Miike Snow’s “The Wave,” but a flawless transition into “The Beginning” gave me a very good feeling about what was in store. He also played his new version of “Teenage Crime” early on in the set, just before “Quasar.” Thomas didn’t play the bootleg with “Aerodynamic” and “Coming Home” like Sebastian Ingrosso and Afrojack did (twice), but instead combined it with John Dahlback’s “Blink” acapella.
Miike Snow – The Wave (Thomas Gold Remix)
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One thing you can always expect in a Thomas Gold liveset is a lot of new, unidentifiable music. It’s near certain that there will be a bunch of new tracks that you’ve never heard before, and Thomas’ own admission that he listens to every promo he gets means that the track rotation is always being expanded. He likes to combine old, well-known vocals with new stuff to keep the crowd’s attention, and that’s exactly what he did at EDC. Fragma’s “Toca’s Miracle” was worked in with a new track called “King” from Matthew Leface, Matt Nash, and Dave Silcox, the Police’s “Message In A Bottle” got combined with Thomas’s “Abart” and Leventina’s “We’re Gonna Start,” and he even used the Etta James “Levels” vocal with his own track “AGORa.”
Another aspect so important to Thomas’ sets is his use of personal bootlegs and edits. He said he spent two weeks preparing his set for EDC, and after hearing some of the intricate bootlegs he dropped, it’s safe to say that was time well spent. He played a super private version of “The Night Out” mashed with Punish’s “Industrial Sound” and some new drums, Eric Prydz “Allein” with the lesser-known Tommy Trash remix of “Wicked Woman,” and overlaid “Alive” on top of “Resurrection.” I’m also a big fan of his Otto Knows mashup with Coldplay and One Republic, “Million Voices” vs “Fix You” vs “Apologize.” The best one, however, had to be a monstrous mix of “Tung” with Madonna’s “Music” and Coldplay’s “Paradise” vocals and parts of “Marsch Marsch,” before retuning back to the venerable horn sounds of Deniz Koyu’s anthem.
fRew – Wicked Woman (Tommy Trash Remix)
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Of course, Thomas also played a few more of his biggest tracks as well, including his “Judas” remix and “Sing 2 Me,” and the new Swanky Tunes track, “The Edge.” The final sequence of the set included Zedd’s remix of “Breakn’ A Sweat” with “Feel So Close” and Laidback Luke’s “Do The Robot,” and Fedde Le Grand Deniz Koyu, and Johan Wedel’s “Turn It” with “You’ve Got The Love.” Thomas’ upcoming track “Fanfare” was combined with Daft Punk’s “Technologic” acapella as the penultimate track, but it all culminated in Thomas’ remix of Adele’s “Someone Like You,” a poetic way to end a very solid set.
Adele – Someone Like You (Thomas Gold & Mark Mendes Bootleg)
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Fedde Le Grand, Deniz Koyu, & Johan Wedel – Turn It
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All in all, Thomas Gold was a definite highlight of the entire EDC weekend, and he did a great job holding down the SIZE stage and repping the Size Matters crew. He even got a nice suntan out of the deal.
Great article! :)
Great recap.
Amazing set one of the best in the stadium
Did he played that ID from Cosmic Opera?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEo_diH94-s
He really is the best. I know some of his songs are getting old and played out, but the guy can make any type of song…he can make club bangers, creative songs, awesome mashups. He should be headlining festivals…
Why dont you try to review something that isn’t progressive, mainstream house music, you one-trick pony. Armin’s set on Saturday blew everyone out of the water, except those that don’t know anything about EDM.
It’s people like you that no one ever wants to run into at a rave…#badvibes. let the man do his reviews and appreciate.
Armin’s set on saturday was life changing
*Yawn*. Thomas Gold plays boring big-room prog-house. I’m tired of this sound already, couldn’t sit through his remix of The Wave, because all it was in reality was the original line of Snow’s track, played out on some Sylenth synths with some rolling snares before the drop. At least Dirty South’s remix of Devil’s Work, whilst borrowing heavily from the original melody line, sounded original and unique.
fuck everyone who says thomas gold didnt kill. shut the fuck up about armin van buren.
Definitely one of the best sets of the weekend, I forgot how much that Judas remix absolutely destroys crowds even if it is old.
saw him on Sunday at a smaller venue. He played almost the same set it sounds like (I don’t blame him if it took two weeks to set up). It was unreal, one of the better shows I’ve seen in a long time and it was incredible. In the middle of songs you would hear vocals coming out of no where that you would have least expected and sounded amazing, then all of a sudden some new sound would fill the room and just build up to some great climactic drop. Well done!
gold, while he plays standard big room house, actually has excellent DJing/technical skills (unlike your standard alesso, avicii, etc.). he also does a good job of playing classics, hits and unknown tracks – which is what you want.
to hear a few songs you know and can sing to, and then a few that leave you with “MAKE SURE YOU WRITE DOWN THOSE LYRICS SO WE COULD FIND THE TRACK LATER!” i have a lot of respect for gold in that aspect. i consider him an actual DJ, as opposed to the other ones that are more entertainers.
armin is in a very exclusive league when it comes to EDM, so lets not bring him into the picture :)
Have you ever been to a rave? I know I haven’t, EDC and E ZOO, Ultra, etc are not raves. Last time a checked raves involved underground type music, not Thomas Gold.
Even though I don’t mind Thomas Gold and think it’s great that he brings in so many lesser known and even new bootlegs in all his set. I’m going to have to agree; DA needs moar trance, or at least Armin van Buuren!
i’m expecting some sort of ASOT tent review. otherwise, lolz
I do hope so, I just realised there’s still many reviews coming. Gonna go read Steve Angelo now :P . Reading those reviews are the only thing that have ever made me wish I lived in the US!
Would do so if all of Thomas Gold’s sets weren’t the same, yawn is the perfect way to describe his sets, no matter how many great “bootlegs” he makes.
WHERE CAN I FIND HIS SETLIST?! PLZ FIND IT AND UPLOAD DA. HIS AND DIRTY SOUTHS ARE MUST HEAR LIFE CHANGING!!
has anyone found the recording of this set?
The man behind several of the thomas gold bootlegs is this guy Zack Edward! Check him out! Gold plays his mashups all the time!