The Business of Concert Promotion and Touring: Case of Afrojack Concert - Essay Example

Afrojack Concert Nick van de Wall known by his stage name Afrojack was born on the 9th September 1987. Born and raised in Netherlands, he has made great achievements using his songs. He started his music career in 2006. His music genres are: hip hop, tech house, Dutch house, progressive house and electro house. His occupations are: deejaying, remixing and recording production. His music record labels are Spinnin and Wall Recordings which are associated with the artists like Pitbull, David Guetta, Ne-Yo, Shakira, Beyonce among others. The ultra music festival 2012 striked every note delivering a stunning display into the weekend’s EDM takeover going on in Miami’s Bayfront Park. Enormous crowds of enthusiastic fans of all ages and from across the world conversed to create an amazing opening show. The key stage for Ultra’s first day on Friday had an all-star listing of talent amid them: Afrojack, David Guetta, Tiesto, and Skrillex among others who brought dazzling visual elements and fresh music, and used Ultra’s new tricks to take the multitude to new heights for 2012. The Ultra music festival was held on 23-25 March in Miami and this was its 14th year in a row. The estimated attendance was about 150,000 for three continuous days. The lineup on Friday, March 23rd, was Carl Cox, Mike Snow, Tommy Tash, The Knocks, Nick Romero, Chris Lake, and Dirty South among others. The lineup for Saturday, March 24, was: Fatboy slim, Metronomy, Doctor P, Flux Pavilion, 12th Planet, High Contrast, and Carbon Airways among other artists. On Sunday, March 25th, there were: David Guetta, Armin Van Buuren, Sander Van Doom, Magnetic Man, Jamie Jones, Bloody Beetroots (DJ Set) among other artists. The festival goers bolded the Miami afternoon heat for all the three consecutive days only to be later charmed by the warm, restrained nights Florida is famous for. As the afternoon Sunday started off as being cloudy, the weather detained out long enough for one last day of madness in Bayfront Park. Party goers praised Bayfront Park’s pleasant view of the water and excess of concrete, organized areas for drinks, food and commodities. This year’s event was much more prepared and better sustained than in the other years, with immense cleaning crew doing regular rounds throughout the park. The party goers were a diverse crowd from across the world to enjoy the Miami climate and the world’s most excellent selection of electronic dance music. The festival was insane and the weather conditions and positive atmosphere created from the personnel and the carnival goers ensured that everyone was in fine spirits. There was an abundance of sitting areas as well as a variety of food, music genres and stages to choose from (Berry 176). Tiesto concluded the night with a deafening roar from the mass and a magnificent fireworks display that stroked an exclamation mark on the first opening day. He sampled some tracks from his forthcoming album, Club Life: Volume 2-Miami, together with his remix of Coldplay’s “Paradise” and the still to be released “Chasing Summers” and climaxed his set with “Maximal Crazy”, perfectly arresting the energy of the multitude. Leading into his set was Skrillex who utilized the ability of Ultra’s main stage. Stunning images of animated dance robots coordinated every bass-crunching riff of Skrill’s signature noise. Afrojack came along with Lil Jon, his new friend, the experienced hype man who leaped beside the top of the DJ booth for the larger part of the set and fired up the crowd, expressing his love for Miami and EDM along the performance. Afrojack had some new music, but mixed his performance with a collection of his fans much loved; commencing his performance with “Bangduck” and incorporating “take over control” and “pon de floor”. The Ultra 2012 festival brought many things to see, even from the smaller stages. The Bao Dome looked like half an exoskeleton of Disney World’s Epcot Ball, Swanky Tunes, Jammed with Spencer & Hill and many other talented artists. The Carl Cox & Friends tent had Richie Hawtin who pioneered a large group of party goers who were unable to fit in the tent to dance in groups along Biscayne Boulevard which was shut down to vehicles throughout the festival. With many goals for the Ultra in the wakening of EDM’s enormous combined progress in the 2011, the artists and organizers seemed to have been inspired to thoroughly entertain fans and loyalists. The festival was packed with many DJs like: Fireworks, Confetti and Melted Records, and they shared their time well. With each track they dropped, the video background blazed some insane, hilarious graphic, flashing the name of the track and the artist while conveying in the album’s track cover to life. They mixed a minute bit of everything and this made it a remarkable night for the hard electro fans to get their fun. Venue and fans aside, this festival was about Afrojack. He took the stage at around 1 a.m and the entire place went crazy with fans looking for dancing space and this made it feel like the multitude had instantaneously multiplied. The ground shook like a tremor and for a second I thought that the floor would crumble down. The most interesting thing about Afrojack was his stage existence and how he was actually into it. He even closed his eyes, held his hands up in the air and his facial expression had a huge smile the entire time. Afrojack commenced his headlining act by telling the mass that he had partied too hard throughout the week and he also seemed exhausted. He, however, sprung to action after picking the magnum of Grey Goose. He told the crowd that he would be premiering ten new songs and the fans responded with a thunderous roar and from there it was a full speed electrifying performance. Afrojack had brought Lil Jon as his emcee for the late afternoon and it was brought to everyone’s attention that they were bringing in the new sh*t. Afrojack played his fans’ favorite track “Take Over Control” and the energy was at a maximum high and I could roughly feel a shock wave flowing through the place. No single person was standing still as the whole structure seemed to be swaying to the music. All one could visualize was glow sticks and lasers and swaying bodies. All I could smell were sweating and sticking bodies. All I could sense was the bumping of the bass. At some position during his performance, Afrojack cut the music out and all you could hear was the thunder of hundred of voices. This made Afrojack grin. One got the feeling that the carnival was re-lived in a much minor setting. The mass was having a first-class time and helping each other out and the incident was much more electrifying than the 2011 festival. Afrojack had a good performance and was enthusiastic about his throwing down. The only annoying thing about his performance was Lil Jon’s recounting of everything and I think that this was not meant for the event. The positive side of the performance was the new fresh music never heard before and Afrojack did this very well as I think that in a performance the crowds present always expect surprises and this is what he delivered to the fans. The overall performance of the Ultra festival, according to me, can be graded A as the experience was one of a kind. Works Cited Berry, Jake. The Business of Concert Promotion and Touring: A Practical Guide to Creating, Selling, Organizing, and Organizing, and Stage Concerts. New York: Billboard Books. 2007. Print. Read More