Eric Prydz EPIC show at O2 Brixton Academy - 02 April 2011

As a long-term fan of Eric Prydz in all his guises - Prydz / Pryda / Cirez D etc. (I have most of his output on 12" vinyl - yeah old-school I know!), and as the person who implemented most of the current look-and-feel of his website, I felt doubly proud / excited to have attended this landmark event.

Somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 of us were packed into the cinema-style venue (O2 Brixton Academy), brother Markus and his wife Kinga completed our small group. We arrived via Victoria Line - just a little after 23:00. Eric was due on at 00:15, but actually materialised at around 00:30. Funk D’Void just about made the waiting bearable, although his very minimalist set had few peaks, and many found it a little colourless as such. It was also evident that the sound from the 2 speaker clusters was overly compressed on the mid-range and lacking in tonal separation and dynamic range - in terms of width of soundstage.

Eric started with a slow, atmopsheric build-up, perhaps a little over-long for my liking, but suitably tension-creating for the exhilarating introduction of beats, it was quite evident that the sound had been ramped up somewhat, but it was still obviously compressed, although significanlty louder and crisper than when Funk D’Void played.

When you first walked into the auditorium the impressive staging was the first thing to catch the eye - with multiple strips of aluminimum panels stretching out into the venue - like wings. A couple of rotating turrets on either side I felt could have been better used, but certainly came into their own during some of the key moments of the concert. There were also a couple of static towers just behind Eric, which only materialised during the epic Pjanoo segment during the finale.

Much has been written about the lighting effects / projections - the supposed ’Man Made In Nature’ / ’How Nature Influences The Man Made’ theme, the 6 super-high-powered projectors, and the 3D holograms. Visual effects / staging by Immersive.

The visual staging was frequently exciting, but did not really bear out a connecting theme for all elements; nor did it necessarily entirely live up to the hype. One could argue that thematically and graphically, Daft Punk, Deadmau5 and Etienne de Crécy had covered similar ground before in a more thematically coherent fashion. That is not to say that the staging - with live video-jockeying was anything but excellent - I just believe it could have been even better. The most impressive elements really were the grandiose / large scale of the stage, and when all the lighting effects were at full throttle - with sweeping beams, strobes and dynamically interesting visuals projected onto the panels and turrets. Over and above everything was Eric’s amazing music - remixed, re-edited and re-sequenced for ultimate effect.

It was largely a ’Pryda’ show, with barely a trickle of Cirez D material, I was hoping for ’Re-Match’ and ’Glow’, but two amazing sequences in Eric’s set more than made up for it - the Reeperbhan / Animal sequence, and the superb uplifting ’Pjanoo’ finale which sequenced Pjanoo / Viro / Allein Allein (Polarkreis 18). I also heard excellent new track ’With Me’ live for the first time, alongside some great Depeche Mode remixes and original edits.

At the start of the event, we were right down the front of the stage - just a little right of centre. We endured an hour of jostling / barging, spilling of drinks and several reprobates flagrantly flaunting the smoking ban - before we decided to take ourselves upstairs to the balcony. Upstairs, as long as you were in aisle 3 or above - you could dance in the aisles - with a much better view of the stage, and actually better (albeit still far from perfect) sound. The upstairs vibe was infinitely superior to the bustle and scrum below - also, only ustairs could you really see / feel the full force of the visual extravaganza - we will remember that for next time. Our Addison Lee taxi was due at 02:45, so we perfectly fit in Eric’s set, headed for the cloakroom and had only just got outside when the taxi arrived.

All in all a good 3 1/2 hours of dancing - to largely amazing music. The visuals were excellent, the sound only average, but the music was truly amazing. I don’t believe any DJ producer currently active is as consistently high quality as Eric Prydz with their output.

Due to the highly involved sequencing and editing of tracks, it was quite difficult to recall the exact sequence, and even all tracks featured; now confirmed track listing via broadcast on Kiss FM:

01. EPIC Intro (Creamfields 2010 ID01 (Intro Mix))
02. Pryda - Glimma
03. Pryda - Illusions
04. Pryda - Berns Electro ID
05. Pryda - Pjanoo (Eric Prydz Private Mix)
06. Pryda - Melo (Album Edit)
07. Eric Prydz - With Me
08. Pryda - Genesis (Eric Prydz EPIC Mix) w/ Nina Simone - Feeling Good (Acappella) w/ Pryda - Miami To Atlanta
09. ID
10. Pryda - Muranyi (Eric Prydz EPIC Mix)
11. Pryda - Animal (Eric Prydz EPIC Mix) w/ Cirez D - Teaser
12. Pryda - Reeperbahn (Eric Prydz EPIC Mix)
13. Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (Eric Prydz Remix)
14. Cirez D - Knockout (Eric Prydz EPIC Mix)
15. Pryda - M.S.B.O.Y
16. Eric Prydz feat. Jan Burton - Niton (The Reason)
17. Cirez D - On Off w/ Depeche Mode - Photographic (Acappella)
18. Pryda - Global Gathering 2010 ID02
19. Pryda - Inox ID
20. Dukes Of Sluca vs. Apollo - Mighty Love (Eric Prydz Re-Edit)
21. Pryda - Pjanoo (Intro Edit) w/ Pryda - Viro w/ Polarkreis 18 - Allein Allein (Eric Prydz Bootleg)
22. Pryda - Shadows (Eric Prydz EPIC Mix)

All in all, most definitely a landmark event!