TuneLab
TomorrowWorld 2014
Steve Aoki
We're time-traveling back to the peak of the electro house and big room boom at TomorrowWorld 2014, where Steve Aoki's set is a chaotic, cake-throwing spectacle of EDM excess. The mainstage is a carnival of flying inflatables, neon, and the distinct scent of sweat and neon body paint. This is festival electro house and big room at its most bombastic, with a BPM average of 130.2 that accommodates both hip-hop swagger and four-to-the-floor drops. The 12A key anchors many of the anthems, providing a stable platform for the simplistic, effective chord progressions.
The energy is low-end heavy but with a significant mid-range presence for the vocal hooks and synth leads, perfect for mass sing-alongs. Aoki's style is all about theatrical drops and rapid-fire genre jumps, prioritizing surprise and reaction over seamless mixing. The tracklist is a time capsule: the LINKIN PARK collab 'A Light That Never Comes' is the emotional, rock-EDM crossover centerpiece. 'Afroki' with Afrojack is a frenetic, festival weapon.
Dropping Madonna's 'Girl Gone Wild' is a pure pop play, while Calvin Harris's 'Summer' is the inevitable, sun-drenched closer of its era. The inclusion of GO BOOM!'s 'I GO BOOM!' is a perfectly titled piece of big room silliness. The journey starts with the hybrid rock energy of the LINKIN PARK intro, peaks with the chaotic joy of 'Afroki', and ends with a different remix of that same collaboration, bookending the frenzy.