I Am Hardwell SA Tour 2013 Cape Town

 What: I Am Hardwell SA Tour 2013

When: 06 December 2013

Where: Bellville Velodrome

Overall experience: Absolutely insane

Line up: Hardwell, Dannic, Pascal & Pearce, Das Kapital, Chris Taylor, Polar Inc.

There were rumours for quite a while that something big was coming and when it was finally announced that giant South African promoters Electric would be hosting the SA leg of the I Am Hardwell World Tour there was loads of excitement. I, myself even got a bit anxious as to whether I would get tickets when the early bird tickets sold out in a few hours after its release.

Some fans questioned the choice of venue and thought that Thunder City should be used instead as Avicii, Steve Aoki and Nicky Romero have all played at that venue, but I think the choice of venue was perfect due to the high quality of sound within the Bellville Velodrome. It can however become a bit of a sauna with capacity crowds.

Walking into the Velodrome one could sense the excitement and the local South African opening acts set a good atmosphere with some progressive and electro beats. The volume could have been turned up a bit for the opening acts and the side stage they used was a bit small. However, as soon as Dutch DJ sensation Dannic took to main stage the sound was at top notch. Known for his funky house style and huge mashups, Dannic definitely didn’t disappoint even dropping his massive remix of Mako’s – Beam.

Before Hardwell’s 3 hour set, there was a minute of silence in remembrance of the late Nelson Mandela who had passed away, which I’m sure was emotional for fellow fans.

As soon as Hardwell started his set, the atmosphere became so electric. From start to finish that was the best set I’ve ever heard and the most I’ve ever seen fans jump. It’s amazing the amount of energy he plays with and to entice a crowd for 3 hours like he did is also very challenging. The moment I looked forward to the most was when Dannic joined Hardwell on stage and they dropped their track Kontiki together and it lived up to all my expectations. Highlights for me were definitely when Hardwell dropped MAKJ vs Andrew Rayel - Revolution Warrior (W&W Mashup), Blasterjaxx – Fifteen (Hardwell Edit), Tsunami and Apollo ofcourse. Another highlight was the last track of the night the Headhunterz remix of Spaceman with Apollo. And so many fans enjoyed some hardstyle at the end.

All in all it was a good night with top quality production from Electric. Amazing stage set up, pyrotechnics, confetti and sound quality.

Next up Carl Cox NYE and Ultra Music Festival South Africa!

Review done by Jason Sam @jason_sam14