Sebastian Ingrosso’s solo return to NYC Monday (June 10) night at Highline Ballroom was a hair on the over-promoted side, which tends to result in certain crowd chaos – especially at the door. Hardly surprising, considering just a couple months ago, the DJ-producer was in town as one-third of Swedish House Mafia for a four-night stint at MSG and Barclays, as well as a sold out Pier 94 show on Halloween. Anxious fans, contest winners, tastemakers and industry members were met by an 800+ line upon arrival at Ingrosso’s final stop on the Miller Music Tour.
After opening act, house music spinner, Anthony Attalla got the crowd moving, Sebastian Ingrosso took to the booth, electrifying the crowd almost instantaneously. His introduction bore a likeness to his shows with Swedish House Mafia, effortlessly weaving between some of their famed tracks including the now-legendary opening from the “One Last Tour.” The crowd chanted along “We Come. We Rave. We Love” as Ingrosso smiled from the booth and addressed his fans, “Happy to be back again in NYC.”
Once the crowd was warm, he took things in a different direction. Ingrosso showcased his mixing prowess by teasing favorites like Deniz Koyu’s “Tung” alongside a bootlegged version of SHM’s “Leave The World Behind”. The Swedish producer-hero brought his originals out to play as well. The festival anthem “Calling” (a collaboration with Alesso) was in the mix alongside more crowd-pleasers like “Committed To Sparkle Motion” (Dubvision Remix)” bootlegged with Florence Welch’s vocals from the pop sensation “Sweet Nothing.”
Near the 1:30 a.m. hour, Ingrosso took us back in time (a whole three months) with a quick history of Swedish House Mafia’s massive success, spinning out the super-group’s global hits: “Don’t You Worry Child,” “One” and “Miami 2 Ibiza”.
As the clock came upon 2 a.m., with hundreds of glowing Miller Genuine Draft bottles in the air, John Martin (longtime collaborate of the holy Swedish trinity and vocalist on “Don’t You Worry Child”) met Ingrosso in the booth to debut a live performance of Ingrosso’s new single, “Reload”. The crowd cheered for the familiar tune that’s been rocking stages since last summer, as confetti and streamers filled the air.
Fans poured out onto the street satiated from the show, as well as the generous supply of Miller products along with free pizza (best accompaniment to beer). Now that Seb has been reloaded, we can officially call him “solo artist.”