TuneLab
OLIVER HELDENS in The Lab LA
Oliver Heldens in The Lab LA is a master of main-stage energy condensed into a club context, a set that delivers big drops and bigger smiles without ever feeling cynical. This is future house and tech house at its most polished and populist, engineered for maximum fun. The vibe is bright, energetic, and unabashedly festive, all flashing lights and hands in the air. With a steady BPM average of 127 and a harmonic base in 12A, this tracklist is a relentless parade of crowd-pleasers, balancing a solid low-end (0.52 avg) with punchy mids and sharp, energetic highs.
Heldens' mixing is crisp and dynamic, full of quick cuts and playful edits that keep the energy sky-high. His extended edit of HI-LO's 'The Answer' is a peak-time weapon, all snarling bass and relentless drive. Dropping Netto Gtz's 'Ella Baila Sola' shows his ear for a viral Latin-inflected groove, while the inclusion of Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' (likely in a hefty edit) is the kind of cheeky, mainstream flip that gets everyone moving. The HI-LO & Sander van Doorn collab 'WTF' is a no-nonsense techno banger that grounds the set.
He opens with the classic, swinging house of Dam Swindle's 'Unfinished Business', builds to a frenzy with his own 'Gecko (Overdrive)', and ends on the acapella fireworks of Roland Clark's 'What the F**k' for a closing track that leaves the room shouting. This live set is a reminder that sometimes, we just want to dance to things we recognise, loudly.