ERIC PRYDZ - HOLO

Written by Ben Hargreaves - Photos by Ben Hargreaves

It’s fair to say that most people have heard Eric Prydz’s music. Maybe not necessarily by track name, but they know the distinct sound. Maybe it’s the distinct melody of . Maybe it’s the immense build up in Opus. Could it be the lyrical overtones of every day? No matter what, you know one of these tracks by sound alone. 

Music is important. Everybody knows this. Everybody accepts this. What makes some music special accompanies it. Stage presence, atmosphere, energy, the visuals, the presentation. Everything blends together to get your finished product. For years now, Eric Prydz has pushed the limit of visual presentation, combining his niche sound with various effects to create an entirely immersive experience. Lasers, pyrotechnics and eventually holograms, Prydz CHANGED the industry completely a few years ago, by testing the limits of what was possible.

June 3rd, 2018. The debut of Prydz mysteriously hyped “HOLO” set. They had released only small trailers and teasers so nobody really knew what to expect going into this show (and sadly I wasn’t there to witness it). The only thing I knew was that everybody loved it. Flash forward to Saturday, 25th of May 2019. are doing a promotion in Finsbury Park, and the headliner is Prydz. But not a normal set, it will be his HOLO set. Once again, tickets disappear in half a minute back in December, and it leaves everybody else struggling (I won’t bore you with my mad rush around London getting half a dozen tickets for our group 2 days prior…but we did it). 

Finally, the day is here. It’s time. The (literally) patented a HOLO set of Prydz. Everybody raved about it, I wanted to see it. I would damn well love it. Set north of London in lovely Finsbury Park, they have set a giant hanger up to darken the stage that Prydz will play on. As we walk in and suss out the venue before showtime (naturally), we can see a giant curtain covering the main stage–as if to say “all will soon”. Beforehand, the only piece of information I had was that Prydz wanted to do a hologram set, and the technology didn’t exist. So his solution was simple. Invent it yourself. Because that’s what normal people right? 

A few hours pass, naturally there’s some good old-fashioned day drinking, and the starting time draws near, we mosey on into the hanger. The curtains have disappeared now, and the only way to describe what we see is a giant black panel which kind of resembled screens, but with a mesh material in front of them. Nothing too out of this world but hey, the show hasn’t even started yet! The lights behind the screen slowly turn on, with a noise I can only describe as like a radio wave dropping in and out. The entire screen is now flickering hundreds of white boxes on it, and Prydz is behind the screen starting his mix. The boxes slowly move around and expand and it honestly feels like it will smack you in the face. Holy shit. The goosebumps and chills that ran through my body were paralytic, to where even talking about it now makes me shiver. The tech was good. You knew it was just a screen, but the poor little brains inside every attendee’s heads were unanimously screaming “WHAT AM I SEEING RIGHT NOW”. That is how you open a damn show.

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The entire time, the music was on point, perfectly synced to the stage visuals and lasers going on in the background. So many of the traditional Prydz animations were being used, the face pushing through the boxes; the astronaut floating through space, the DNA symbol rotating around. But seeing it in holographic form, and being in the crowd, feeling the energy and the vibe, sound resonating through your ears–it was an experience unlike any other. Enough to move you to tears, almost. As much as I tried to take photos and videos, you can see an idea of how the set looks and plays out, but you really can’t do HOLO justice on a camera. You don’t get the full effect, but you can see why the hype is all there. I’ll let the photos and videos try do most of the talking here.

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I still believe the most memorable part of the show for me was Every Day. The hype building up, the floating DNA ring, the lasers, the crowd singing along. The entire moment was surreal, and just made you realise how powerful music and live events are for bringing people together. 

Although I’m a little gutted that Opus wasn’t played, it was still a huge event, an amazing setup, a beautiful visual piece second to none, an amazing two hour performance (including huge applause at the end), Prydz has secured a guaranteed attendee for when he introduces his new set at Tomorrowland 2019; HOLOSPHERE. There’s zero chance that I can miss that set.

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