On Day 2 of Boom, Belgium's Tomorrowland Festival, a majority of the day's 60,000 attendees sought out the Main Stage as the evening let on into night. Boom hometown stars Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike gave way to bass music king Skrillex, who put on an explosive, seizure inducing light spectacle, and even had a fireworks display that quickened in tempo with his music.
It goes without saying that with their remaining days together now numbered, a major draw for the weekend was the return of the Holy Trinity of House, Swedish House Mafia. And indeed Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Steve Angello, recently confirmed to MTV News UK, that they too were looking forward to their return to Boom, and a chance to play one more, likely final, time for their fans. Yes, as you'll see in the clip below, Swedish House Mafia has nothing but love for Tomorrowland.
"The Festival is getting better and better every year," Seb said "and the crowd is coming from all over the world."
"Great production. Great artists," Steve added.
"Great guys behind the festival," Seb said, referencing Tomorrowland's promoters ID&T
"I think it's one of the few festivals where the promoters work very closely with the DJs, and performers, to make it the best they can," Steve concluded.
But what became evident after they launched into their 2 hour set with "Greyhound" was an emotional give & take that existed Saturday night between The Swedes & their fans in attendance: it seemed almost a mutual salute: an emotional exchange where each offered the other their goodbyes. At four times in the evening, fans could be heard chanting "Hey! Ho!" in unison along to tracks. When the gents dropped out the audio, the crowd yelled back Ryan Tedder's vocals on "Calling." Often in the set, Axwell and Steve would lower the volume to ask how the fans were feeling, and to offer a "Thank you for being our friends."
Probably the most touching point of the evening came during SHM's latest spin of their new farewell single, "Don't You Worry Child," when Axwell grabbed a microphone and climbed up on top of the mixer table saying that SHM never expected to come as far as they have, and that they were thankful for everything they have. He expressed that their success was due to fans like those in attendance Saturday night, and he again offered his thanks.
"You guys are the legends!" Axwell said. Fittingly, their new single cranked back up with John Martin's vocals of reassurance, While Seb, Ax, and Steve may be putting Swedish House Mafia to rest in the coming future, life is good, and everything is going to be ok.
"Don't you worry, don't you worry child. See heaven's got a plan for you. Don't you worry, don't you worry now. Yeah!"