For the next 120 minutes, let’s attempt to mentally block out everything surrounding Swedish House Mafia’s tenuous reunion in an effort to reminisce on how in 2010, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello were simply three friends, reinventing the rockstar archetype, producing timeless progressive house, and appearing around every corner of the globe. On August 29, 2010, with a headlining slot on Creamfields‘ second and final day, the Swedes put forth two hours of pure house brilliance. With the UK festival’s would-be 2020 iteration originally planned for this weekend and the set now celebrating its ten-year anniversary, we’re traveling back in time, to the beginning of the last decade, to re-experience what made Swedish House Mafia electronic deities.
A full ten years later and the performance, repurposed as an Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1, has not lost an ounce of edge. Journeying through classics such as “Leave the World Behind,” Steve Angello, AN21 and Max Vangeli’s “The Island,” Axwell and Dirty South’s everlasting “Sweet Disposition” rework, the two-hour thrill ride personified just why that era of dance music is persistently labeled as the genre’s golden age, and why Swedish House Mafia sat atop electronic music’s throne at the height of it all.
Featured image: Rudgr.com
