A few months ago, sales no one would have believed that Kygo would be the hottest ticket in town. The 22-year-old Norweigan producer has been one of the year’s most unbelievable success stories, search rocketing from obscurity to mainstage performances in no time flat on the strength of his gorgeous tropical house remixes of pop songs. That strength has translated to monetary success too. After passing the 80m play mark on Soundcloud, Kygo signed to Sony Music and embarked on the sell-out Endless Summer tour, with last Wednesday’s stop in Cambridge selling out in mere hours. Of course, with the aftermarket prices for the show topping $180, the question on everyone’s mind was simple- would this show match the standards of his recorded work? Well, not exactly. Kygo’s clear inexperience resulted in a cohesive but bland pre-planned set, far overshadowed by his spectacular opener.
If you’re not familiar with Thomas Jack, now is the time to check him out. The 20-year old Australian has been putting out a steady stream of gorgeous remixes and original tracks, keeping in the same tropical house vein as Kygo. Sporting long shaggy hair, a varying array of floral shirts and a consistently beaming smile, TJ is also overpoweringly likable, and this quality was one of the best parts of his set. For a DJ so young, he had a graceful but wise approach to audience interaction, making eye contact and gesturing gratefully at audience members and coming out to greet them when he had the chance, all without seeming hammy. He was clearly enjoying the show as much as his audience, and that positivity wrang through and made the set all the more enjoyable.
TJ’s music choice was also excellent, mixing his many tunes with some surprising twists on genre. As expected, the focus here was on tropical and the first and last thirds of the set brought this in force. TJ span some of his own remixes, including those of “Over the Rainbow” and Of Monsters and Men’s “Little Talks,” as well as originals like the gorgeous saxaphone-centric track “The Final Speech.” The middle of the set, however, took a decisive turn into deep house, providing some incredible extended grooves that were unexpected but entirely welcome. Frankly, the numerous bros in attendance were confused and unhappy by this, but were brought back when he dropped a blistering remix of Kelis’ “Milkshake.” With a DJ less talented this mix could have felt sloppy and indecisive, but TJ’s considerable skill behind the decks brought things together wonderfully. Overall, this was an excellent set from a musician with nowhere to go but up.
Things took a turn at Kygo’s entrance in a few ways. By this point, the floor had filled uncomfortably with a mish-mash of bros and, for lack of a better word, basics who were clearly more interested in drinking and hooking up than watching the set. TJ fans all flocked to the side while the floor became an uncomfortable mess of people clearly just waiting to find someone to dance with when he dropped “Sexual Healing.” Also, TJs simple backdrop was replaced by an overproduced visual accompaniment with the Kygo logo floating over mountains and rivers elegantly while lyrics would occasionally come on screen. Beyond feeling unnecessarily expensive, everything was so well synced that it immediately raised questions of whether the set was pre-recorded. I don’t think that was the case, but with everything so well-planned that it was clear Kygo was doing little more than crossfade and let the tracks play.
Kygo himself also looked pretty awkward up there. As the tranquil imagery unfolded behind him, he sang along with the songs and twisted knobs to little effect. In fact, if you looked at a recording and took the sound out it would be easy to assume you were watching a Dutch bigroom producer laying it down. Of course, while he definitely took his cues from many of the Ultra Music Festival elite, he hadn’t quite mastered the form yet. He was comically confused about what to do with his hands, holding up his right arm for pretty much the duration of the set. Seriously, see it for yourself:
Despite all the negatives though, the music was good. Starting with his insanely popular remix of Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire,” he moved through the biggest hits of his remix work, touching on Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s “Shine,” Coldplay’s “Midnight” and Ed Sheeran’s Live Lounge mashup/cover of “No Diggity” and “Thrift Shop” while wisely skipping his good but horrendously overplayed rework of Passenger’s “Let Her Go.” He also played some of his original tracks, including the silky smooth “Labor Bris” and a new track which I believe was called “Fire and Brimstone.” The new one showed that Kygo is going in a more commercial house direction while also embracing some bigroom, bringing in bigger synths and cheesier vocals over his signature sound. It wasn’t quite as compelling as the rest of his output, but it was still a quality track that has me excited for his upcoming work.
Overall, I would have to say that the audience got what they came for. The set was enjoyable and well-picked, certainly on par with his excellent Diplo & Friends mix, and for most of the people in attendance it had the right mix of sound and visuals to keep drinking and getting sloppy to. However, the lack of risk-taking and DJ craft is slightly worrying for Kygo’s future shows. He is a young guy who has been thrust into the spotlight very quickly and clearly has had to assemble this show in a hurry without learning the delicate craft of EDM performance. He will also be selling out concert halls in the run-up to a doubtless string of mainstage performances come festival season next year. I would like to believe that he can put something more active together before then, but its easy to worry that the pressure and his busy schedule may impede progress.
This was a great night that wasn’t quite worth the hype. Thomas Jack put on a spellbinding set that was sure to make him some fans, but Kygo just couldn’t get a show together that stood up to the quality of his music. He is an amazingly talented musician with nowhere to go but up, and I can only hope that down the line he learns the stage craft to truly match his production ability. And seriously, he has to get better with the hand thing.
Photos by Chandler Philpott