John Summit’s Set at Billboard’s The Stage at SXSW: Best Moments

The gang did a number of the vocal heavy lifting when Summit performed “The place You Are,” his 2024 hit with British singer Hayla close to the highest of the set, with 1000’s of individuals chanting the anthemic chorus together with the observe. However for an additional pair of Summit’s greatest songs, he introduced out the true factor, introducing Australian singer-songwriter Cloves to the levels to sing their January observe “Focus” (at present in its 14th week on Scorching Dance/Digital Songs) after which inviting South Africa-born, U.Okay.-based vocalist Julia Church to shut the present with their track “Go Again,” a collab with drum & bass legend Sub Focus. Each girls sounded wonderful and collectively introduced a dynamic facet to the evening.

Bringing vocalists out throughout dwell exhibits is a daily incidence at Summit units, with the producer telling Billboard that he “f—ing loves it” when these collaborators get an enormous crowd response, as they did on Saturday.

Spirits had been palpably excessive all through the Amphitheater, with the excited viewers dressed to the nines in rave gear stylish (sun shades at evening, heads wrapped in pashminas, and so on.) and locked in from the leap. The 1000’s of assembled followers sung alongside in unison to the large songs, dancing laborious through the drops and elevating telephones in tandem to seize moments like when Summit performed his ravey remix of The Mood Lure’s 2008 traditional “Candy Disposition,” the dropping their units to first pump through the track’s iconic “a second, a love, a dream, aloud” lyrics. A particular shout out to everybody who then headed to downtown Austin for the official afterparty, which featured one other hypnotic efficiency by Nala and a late-night set from KSHMR.

Whereas there was rather a lot was taking place on stage by way of pyro bursts and Summit’s ebullient presence — with the artist intermittently smiling on the crowd, enthusiastically singing alongside to the music and specializing in the decks — there was additionally rather a lot to have a look at on the large screens behind him. The present’s visuals shifted between winding geometric patterns, glittery shade splashes and logos for his Consultants Solely label that altogether gave a sense of artsy, upscale psychedelia. The imagery was particularly putting throughout “Focus,” with the on-screen visuals that includes the ’90s VHS-style visuals from the track’s ravey music video.

Within the final yr, Summit has performed big-ass venues like Madison Sq. Backyard in New York, Kia Discussion board in Los Angeles and an entire host of enormous competition levels around the globe. Thus, seeing him in comparably intimate Moody Amphitheater (which holds roughly 5,000 individuals) felt like a more and more uncommon alternative. The scale of the present additionally made it a bit extra akin to Summit’s Consultants Solely social gathering sequence, which has just lately occurred in place like Lake Tahoe, Calif., and Vail, Colo., and is targeted on underground music in smaller, extra club-like areas. Thus, from almost wherever within the venue on Saturday, it was attainable to see the producer bouncing round onstage in time with the music, together with his excited power equally as infectious because the music he performed.

Because the boss of his label, Consultants Solely, Summit each releases music by rising artists and performs contemporary output throughout his underground-oriented Consultants Solely units. Saturday’s efficiency actually didn’t skimp on any of Summit’s greatest tracks, with the artist enjoying the aforementioned “The place You Are,” “Go Again,” “Focus,” “Shiver” and his edit of The Mood Lure’s “Candy Disposition.”

However he additionally performed lesser recognized music too, rinsing stuff like Nord Pole’s hella ravey 2018 observe “Trancecatcher,” “Monks Dance,” a January launch from producer Wthbrdrs and Subarctica’s 2011 “Storms of Silence,” with these well-curated tracks woven seamlessly together with his personal work by way of slick transitions. He additionally leaned into remixes, enjoying the Odd Mob edit of his personal “palm of my palms,” his, Subtronic and Tape B’s wobbly edit of Sage the Gemini’s “Fuel Pedal” and his personal just lately launched remix of Anyma and Ellie Goulding’s “Hypnotized.” Summit closed the present by asking if the viewers wished to listen to some dubstep, with the gang welcoming to the style with an enormous roar and Summit then enjoying some tremendous grimey low finish, seeming to shock even himself with the depth, saying merely “holy s—” into the mic after the hard-hitting section.