By Kim Dumo, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Avicii, perhaps the hottest house music artist of 2011, blessed the small peninsula of Búzios on Sunday, November 13th for one magical night. Rated sixth in a 2011 Top 100 DJ poll, Avicii has burst onto the international club scene with some of the most popular singles of this year, and drew a huge crowd to this famous beachside vacation destination a few hours outside of the Cidade Maravilhosa.
Avicii is Tim Bergling, a 21 year-old who has managed to conquer the international house music scene in a mere three years of music production experience. This is the artist’s third time touring through Brazil, and next he moves on to the United States and Australia to finish out an unbelievable year.
The setting for the show was in the downstairs of the oceanside club Pacha, which also sports a club in NYC. It was a cool and rainy night but that didn’t stop the 1,200 ticket holders that paid R$175 each from witnessing their favorite artist.
Other DJ’s warmed up the already hyped crowd until 3AM when Avicii took the stage. An overwhelming roar followed by Avicii’s drop of “Levels” set the masses into a frenzied state. Mario Bulhoes Pedreira, the owner of Pacha said, “This is crazy! So many people dancing and having a good time.”
The dance floor was so packed that there were men on other men’s shoulders just to see over the large crowd. Malik Adunni from New York City who was in town for the show said, “Man, what an experience. Avicii killed it tonight.”
Two hours into the show pyrotechnics sprayed on the beach while confetti rained down upon the dance floor. Avicii played until day light illuminated through the ocean-view windows of Pacha. The awe-struck crowd paid their respects with one final roar and applause.
Originally from Stockholm, Sweden, this young man has felt honored by this sudden success, saying, “I was so humbled when I was placed as sixth in the top 100 DJ poll. I didn’t push for that either so it meant a lot to me to see my fans take it upon themselves to put me that high.”
Avicii will perform a total of 260 shows this year, making him a very busy man. “Doing so many shows makes it difficult to create new songs but I somehow find time since I want to put out an album soon. Touring this much is an everyday thing.”
Tim Bergling was originally inspired by his family’s musical influences. He says, “My dad is a big Ray Charles fan. My brothers and sisters are rock heads who listen to Kiss and stuff like that. I had a lot of different inspirations for my music.”
Today, Avicii has been quoted as being inspired by Laid Back Luke, Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello, Daft Punk, The Swedish House Mafia and Eric Prydz.
Spend a bit of time with Tim and he will thoroughly acknowledge his appreciation for his manager. “After I met my manager a year ago, that’s when things went professional … We started out from nothing and he didn’t really have many connections but he was able to get in touch with some key people to set this whole thing off.”