(photo credit: songkick.com)
By Danny Contreras
Swedish EDM virtuoso Alesso stopped by the University of Connecticut’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts this past Saturday as part of the EDM mass college tour, Winter White.
With supporting acts from fellow Swede Otto Knows and UConn’s own DJ Manni, Alesso took to the stage at around 10:30 and had a one-hour-and-a-half set in which he played his biggest hits to date.
Alesso came to prominence in the electronic dance music community in 2010 as the protégé of Swedish House Mafia co-founder Sebastian Ingrosso. Remixing famous artists such as Nadia Ali, Bassjackers and Dune, he jumped the Atlantic in 2011 as a headliner in the first Electric Zoo in New York.
His Winter White set was amazing, opening with “Years,” which features the vocals of Matthew Koma. The light show began in a chaotic form with creepy visuals complementing it—not that it was a bad thing. Alesso started out on a high note with bootlegs of his remix of “Heiress of Valentina” and Julian Jordan’s “Kangaroo”.
The crowd was delighted with the show. Otto Knows did a great job of warming everybody up prior to Alesso. He played the confirmed but unreleased single from GTA, “Hit It,” to drive the crowd wild opened with his remix of Dada Life’s “Kick-Out the Epic MF” and closed with his biggest hit to date, “Million Voices.”
Alesso, meanwhile, had a rather non-traditional set with a lot of electro songs being mixed with a capellas of progressive house songs. He did pay homage to the group that got him noticed in the first place with Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso both being played. Axwell’s “In My Mind” was bootlegged with an unreleased song while Ingrosso appeared with the forever catchy “KNAS.”
The highlight of the night was definitely the closing sequence in which Alesso played his best songs. A remixed version of his remix of Keane’s “Silenced by the Night” served as a prelude to a medley of big room anthems, supplemented by some great pyrotechnics. Fog, confetti and streamers all mixed as Swedish House Mafia’s “Don’t You Worry Child” played out the PAs to the thousands of screaming fans. The always melodic “City of Dreams” with Dirty South followed suit to more pyro, more singing, and more crazy intensity. It all builds-up to his first hit ever, “Calling” featuring Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic fame. With the slow build up, and crazy love lyrics, Alesso asked, “Are you ready to lose your mind?” to the full enjoyment of the crowd.
By the end of the song, UConn was still begging for more and it came with an encore repeat of the opening song “Years,” which everyone ate up. He concluded soon after, leaving everyone to bare the snowy night.
The concert, however, was one of the best I’d been to in recent memory; A lot better than Dada Life, but less personal. Overall, it truly was worth the money, and should he return to CT, it would behoove lovers of EDM to go see him. Alesso truly showed on Saturday why he was Ingrosso’s protégé and why he’s the lead producer/ DJ in this new generation.
