Eric Prydz EPIC 5.0 at The Steelyard London 27th May
This May bank holiday weekend Eric Prydz brought his mighty and magnificent concept "EPIC" to Victoria Park, London. After the masterpiece that was EPIC 4.0, the Swedish born DJ promised this would be even bigger and we can safely say as the name states moments of this show were nothing shy of being simply epic. This show would also the only time we would see EPIC 5.0 in Europe this year so the excitement had been built up right from the moment the event was announced.
Venue :
Eric Prydz partnered with Cream to deliver the venue who are no beginners to hosting some of the biggest events this planet has seen and they had just the structure to fit such a monumental day; The Steelyard. Introduced in Creamfields 2016 this 15,000 strong capacity, 20 metre high space is simply incredible and the perfect setting to host Prydz's EPIC 5.0.Bar Staff : There were multiple bars located outside of The Steelyard all of which had adequate numbers of staff manning the bars meaning queue times were no longer than 5 minutes or so. On top of this they were happy, smiling and enjoying the buzzing atmosphere which was great to see! There were also floor cleaners present to keep the bottles and cups littered around at a minimum.
Heat : Well controlled in our opinion considering it was a very hot day which could have easily led to a gigantic structure made out of metal turning into a sweatbox!
Drink Prices : Cans of beer/cider priced at £5.50, £6.00 for a small bottle of wine (for one), mixers £5.00 and water £2.50. very reasonable in our opinion for the area and event type so top marks here!
Crowd : The day felt like everyone in the crowd were on the same level. All there for the love of the music and to see one of their favourite DJs perform his groundbreaking show. At times the space did get over crowded but moving around the event space there were areas with more room away from the very centre of the crowd.
Production/Sound :
Production : Built up as being to be one of the biggest parts of the show, Prydz had already teased us with short clips and statements claiming that this was to be 30% bigger than his last show EPIC 4.0 at Madison Square Garden. So, was it? Well lets just say there were 600 laser beams, 10 million pixels of video and 20 metre wide holograms. Yes, it was an absolute visual masterclass. The crowd feasted their eyes on a giant display of colour frenzy with astronaughts, tornados and even Eric Pyrdz's face in the holograms followed by the iconic laser beams clearing the room and topping off a jaw dropping experience. 18 months of hard work was unravelled and boy was it worth the wait.
In addition to the holograms there were dual beams running along the length of the structure featuring various lighting options as well as an army of strobes and lights that were mirrored either side of the holograms at the front of the venue. A total of 320 different light beams and strobes lit up the entire room, it truly was incredible. The only downside to this was that the DJs before Prydz didn't benefit from much lighting or visuals, with the many screens behind them remaining black throughout the day and only the dual beams running along the structure offering a small amount of lighting options.
Sound : The sound within the venue provided a pumping bass heavy setting and complimented the day's selection of big room bangers as well as Prydz's iconic tracks. At times however and in areas of the space the sound could get a little quiet and not provide that full impact of the tracks but for such a big venue this can be difficult.
DJ Sets :
The day started with German DJ/Producer Weska who opened up The Steelyard with some heavy basslines to set the mood and get everyone warmed into the day. After impressing here this certainly wont be the last time he will be playing on the same line up as Prydz having recently been announced as joining Pryda at the Steelyard in Creamfields this year.
Weska then handed over to Cristoph who is certainly no stranger to the scene with releases on Hot Since 82's Knee Deep In Sound and Coyu's Suara. He rose to the occasion and dropped some pumping raw beats to get the crowd grooving.
Next up was George Fitzgerald on a line up that just seemed to get better and better. The tempo of the tracks really starting to raise as the day went on, the set was closed with his own track "Full Circle" that handed over perfectly to Kolsch.
Kolsch took over the proceedings and in excellent fashion. Armed with his melodic and vocal big room tracks that pull on every emotion. The Danish DJ/Producer took us on a vibrant instrumental journey playing tracks like his very own "Grey", his emphatic remix of "Take a Chance" and finishing off the set in style with Kings of Tomorrow's "Finally".
It was time for the main event, the main man, Eric Prydz. We've already spoke about how amazing his visuals were but add that to the tracks in his set and all you're left with is goosebumps. Prydz started his set with his more melodic tracks drawing from his persona Pryda, followed by his darker techno alter ego Cirez D which included his iconic mashup of Green Velvet & Harvard Bass's track "Lazer Beams" which erupted with green lasers flooding the room.
The set continued to grow with build up to the final 30 minutes which Eric Prydz took over with his classic tracks "Pjanoo" and "Every Day" which sent the crowd wild with dozens of blue lasers shooting across The Steelyard that were bouncing, yes you read that right; lasers were bouncing in time to the beat. Unfortunately for all of us it had to end but there was only one track that would serve as a fitting end, Opus. This blinder of a track slowly built up in melody and drew absolutely every soul in that structure together and when it dropped there was nothing but smiles as the uplifting track sent shivers down our spines and closed the day in style.
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