The day had finally come. It was Avicii's last ever extravaganza, and he wasn't going to leave quietly. Before I embarked on my journey to Ushuaïa - where the DJ would be giving his last performance - I read an article on his controversial retirement, and suddenly it all made sense: the man is a machine. To quote: “Between January 1, 2011 and January 1, 2016 alone, Avicii played somewhere in the vicinity of 220 DJ sets in 261 weeks, travelling back and forth across the globe, entering all number of different time zones.” Sheesh Avicii, make yourself a brew and retire before you explode lad.
But, before he does that, there was an Ushuaïa-shaped crowd waiting to see him perform for the last time. On the night, the venue was swarming with the most up for it crowd I'd seen yet and there were seven-foot high models wearing robot-like costumes dancing about the place. There was something in the air that suggested this night was going to go down in history - the excitement levels were palpable.
Amid the sea of brightly-coloured hair, Seeb heated things up by playing Indian style music, before dropping into something heavier for all those looking to lose themselves in the dance, which was 99% of the crowd. The famous 'I Took A Pill In Ibiza' flooded the venue, and everyone watched in amazement as airplanes flew above, shaking the ground below. The sea of Avicii t-shirts and hats grooved on as KSHMR took to the stage. he brought his his dreamy, anime style movies with him, and added to anticipation of the mood with tunes likes Headhunterz's, ‘Dharma'.
If there's any way to build tension before a set, it's half an hour of silence as we waited for the main man himself to arrive. Okay, maybe it wasn't really silence, because the air was punctuated by fangirl screams coming from all directions, but the half an hour wait succeeded in getting the crowd even more revved up than before. It was time - Avicii was on stage and the crowd surged forward, ready to get as close a glimpse as possible of a modern-day idol. As he embarked on his set, the intensity of the atmosphere made way for emotion, and as he played ‘Without You', I'm sure I spotted a few tears dotted on the faces of the crowd.
Everything about this show excelled above any other party at Ushuaïa I've attended so far this year - the lights, the flames and smoke cannons were bigger and better than ever before - of course, you'd expect no less for an occasion like this. Even the staff were finding it hard not to join in - I saw one toilet attendant run out screaming for the superstar DJ. I watched in wide-mouthed awe as a DJ who's obviously seen and been through it all sang along with the crowd; a teary look of gratitude in his eyes; offering them a thousand thank yous without words. Is this the end of the Avicii story? We'll have to wait and find out, but regardless, there's no doubt last night marked the end of an era. But don't cry Avicii fans, maybe it's not goodbye - just a simple see you later.
WORDS | Ruby Munslow
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