Monday Choon: Avicii vs. Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman - Without You x Penny (Tiesto Mashup)

Yesterday saw the final day of what was a 2 weekend celebration of Tomorrowland. Celebrating it's 15 year, it is one of the biggest dance music festival's in the world and forever growing with some of the largest recorded audiences for an event in Europe. This year saw the event take place over two weekends with the very best in the industry taking to stage to strut their stuff. A stand out performance has to be  Tiesto's tribute to the late Avicii in weekend one with his mash-up of  Avicii's Without You and Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman's Penny. The track even reduced the Dutch legend to tears while playing it. Here's is the track exclusive to you by the Bucket.

Monday Choon: Avicii - SOS feat. Aloe Blacc

This Saturday marks a year since the world lost Tim Bergling, otherwise known as Avicii. His rise to stardom in the electronic music world was truly remarkable, as a young kid at the time producing hit after hit, then going on to collaborate with some of the biggest names of the industry did his career no harm. Tim wasn't afraid to push the boundaries and he did that on the biggest stage of the world when he switched his style up and credit to him, it proved to be a success. It's as if he could do no wrong but the pressures of the industry got to him in the end and he sadly could take no more. Almost a year after his passing, his family decided that the world needed to hear his unreleased music, he was in the process of finishing another album before his passing and with the help of fellow artists and friends they managed to achieve this. The first track of the album entitled "SOS" was released last week and features Aloe Blacc on the vocals. Given the circumstances of his death, the lyrics to the song are almost like a story he wants to tell the world, it touches the heart listening to the song and reading the fan memories which are included in the music video. The sounds are uniquely Avicii and while the mellow beat of this track suits it well. The world looks forward to see what else this immensely talented artist had lined up for us.

Monday Choon: Avicii Remembered

Tim Bergling, better known as Avicii sadly passed away last Friday, he was found dead in his hotel room in Muscat, Oman. He was just 28 years old and had already accomplished so much in his short time on earth. The Swedish producer come DJ was a cult legend in the EDM world, he was fearless, bold and always pushed the boundaries in an industry where many chose to be comfortable in a set style they had. My first recollection of his music came in 2010, back when people still watched MTV, they had a Dance Floor Chart every Friday night, I used to watch it religiously. While they only featured 10 tracks a week, it was the top 10 at the time, and an unknown artist was featured as a new entry, Tim Berg - Seek Bromance. If you think the title of the track was odd, watch the music video and be even more perplexed, but back then all music videos were a bit weird but the music was ace. It was a time where EDM was just known as Dance music and there was no division over genre's. This track was epic though, something that was different to what everyone else was making, a new sound, a great beat which was catchy and hence got him quite high up the charts very quickly

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In 2011 the world was introduced to Avicii, Tim at the time had many stage names but this one seemed to have stuck and with it he released possibly one of his greatest tracks ever. He himself knew he had a brilliant creation but I don't think he could have fathomed how much of an impact that song would have had worldwide, the song was Levels. That song elevated him into instant stardom, he was 22 years old and already getting bookings all over the world. He toured South Africa in March of 2012 and I was very fortunate to have seen him play live, in his prime at the Wavehouse in Gateway. He played Levels 3 times that night but I don't think anyone cared, he had us going and we were loving it. I was slightly disappointed that he didn't play his New Generation Mix of Nadia Ali's hit track, Rapture at the show. It was also released about the same time as Levels and still to this day I rate as one of the best remixed tracks made. 

Avicii's tour to South Africa came a week just after he killed Ultra Miami in 2012, if anything was an indication of how big these Swedish talent was, it was that festival. At the time he collaborated with some of the biggest names in music, let a lone electronic music. He had made songs with Lenny Kravitz, Alesso, Nicky Romero and even Madonna! He got Madonna to Ultra Miami in 2012. The production team behind the event said it was the biggest star they've had at the festival and I'm sure still is that way. While his track with Madonna "Girl Gone Wild" was pretty epic, his track with Lenny Kravitz, "Super Love" was everything at the time and even featured on the Ultra Miami Aftermovie. 

Many lauded his bold approach at trying new things with his music. As mentioned, he didn't conform himself to one set style, while his music was easily identifiable he always liked to mix around with other genre's and see how he could adapt that to his music. Hence in 2013 at Ultra Miami, he shocked the whole EDM world, when his set began with an unplugged version of "Wake Me Up", the crowd was left a bit dumbfounded, as this was the first time we've heard the track and it wasn't anything remotely close to dance music. It was more Country Western, I still recall listening to the podcast and wondered if someone was playing a prank and uploaded something from Tim McGraw. I loath country music so for me, that set was a write-off. I thought to myself, how can someone blow peoples minds the one year, then go and do that the next year? Many felt the same but slowly as the year went on, people realised there was a deeper meaning to his music. I still wasn't a fan though.

Over the next few years, he spent a lot of time touring, while still working on new music. His music hit a high commercial level where almost every radio station was playing it, more so than clubs. Had he succumbed to the commercial Devil? Whereby he made music just for the airplay and money instead of making it for the sheer joy and enjoyment? It's a bit of a harsh comment, I know but it sure felt that way but it wasn't. If you just have a look at all the music he made, it followed a pattern and this was just one of the phases of that pattern. Slowly in 2017 a new sound was transitioning from him, when he released the track "Without You", I heard it on a podcast from another famous DJ, I instantly took a liking to it, it came as a nice surprise to see Avicii on the artist profile. Maybe it's just from my age, that the maturity of the song appealed to me but I was very happy to have Avicii back on my playlist. 

One of his last song's he made that still features on my play list is a collaboration he did with Rita Ora, again just shows you the pull he had with working from artists outside the EDM sphere. It was more Pop than EDM but again, it had the unmistakable Avicii signature to it, you could feel that he was onto something great. His management have come out and said that there was an album he was working on, which was almost complete, so lets hope they somehow get to finish it and let the world celebrate his last achievement. Thank you Avicii, for your music and your legacy that you leave behind. 

#ThanksStevie

While the tears from Saturday have almost dried and the thought of seeing Stevie wear the famous red of Liverpool at Anfield are all but memories now, one can't help but wonder how different life at Liverpool Football Club will be without him. Already the silly season shenanigans have begun with Sterling and his manager causing a media frenzy at the moment but this post isn't about that, it's about Stevie. 

The farewell given to him was nothing short of extraordinary, I've never seen anything like that before in all my years watching the English Premier League. From the short ceremony that was held before the match against Crystal Palace, with the guard of honor formed by both teams to welcome Gerrard onto the pitch for the last time at a ground that was his second home. High fiving the Palace team as he walked out with his 3 daughters was a nice moment and to hear the entire ground in full voice for You'll Never Walk Alone and thereafter singing his song sent a tingling feeling throughout your body. 

The game started off well for LFC and Adam Lallana opened the scoring with a breakaway goal coming of an error by former red Martin Kelly, could have been a late present by the defender for all we know but from there on, it was down hill for the Reds. as Palace struck back to equalise just before half time and there after add 2 more goals to our misery. The team lacked focus and desire, I felt bad it being Gerrard's last home game and it had to be a defeat, for all those years he dug deep to rescue the team, just this one time they couldn't do the same for him. 

In any case, Liverpool went on to lose the game 3-1 but as the final whistle blew it was time for Anfield to say goodbye to its favourite son. Yes, there was Highway, Dalglish, Rush, Barnes and so on but no one can deny that the best from them all was Stevie. In fact the heroes of yesteryear tend to agree with that as well, as Gerrard said once, "I was made for Liverpool and Liverpool was made for me", it was always a perfect fit and his 17 year career bared testament to it. So much so that for the first time ever, no one in the stadium cared about the result of the game that just ended. There was even a banner that read "There best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be".

It's no secret that Liverpool FC conduct themselves in a certain fashion, "the Liverpool way" they call it. One of the main things is there is no player bigger than the club and while I am a firm believer of it, on Saturday things changed. There was someone bigger than the club and as much as he would deny it, Stevie was held in higher regards than the dropped 3 points, people were celebrating as if we had won, but in reality they were celebrating the career of one of the greatest football players of all time. That for me showed respect to a man that gave his all to make the people who support this great club happy. As a mark of respect, every team member came out wearing the new kit with Gerrard on the back which was a nice touch. A gitting tribute to a legend of the game.

Thank you Steven Gerrard, Thank Oh you beauty, Thanks for the memories, till we meet again, You'll Never Walk Alone.