On Monday, a day later than originally scheduled, Swedish House Mafia (SHM) stopped by in Bangalore for a Sunburn Arena concert at Bharatiya City as part of their farewell tour, tantalisingly titled One Last Tour.
There was a heady, fortuitous air to the proceedings – that Bangalore found a spot in the rescheduled India leg of the tour, after being overlooked when SHM visited the country in November, and a definite sense of relief that despite thunderstorm-delayed flights from Jakarta, the trio was finally in the city.
"We almost didn't make it. Thank god we did!" they said to the around 20,000-strong crowd, mostly youngsters.
The group took the stage after the crowd was warmed up by Turin Mehta, Shaan and Rohit Barker. And for just over two hours, Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello and Axwell – all prolific DJs and producers in their own right – provided an unmatched audio-visual spectacle.
There were trippy lasers, fireworks on stage – and we don't just mean from behind the dj console – confetti colouring the night sky, stage lighting and graphics that had a better sense of music timing than what most people can boast of.
The hits came loud and fast. Cranking up the tempo early enough with the crowd-pleaser Greyhound, SHM made sure the energy levels didn't drop. The set list – the transitions smooth and fluid – included mixes of Kanye West, Coldplay and Florence+the Machine.
SHM house songs might be radio regulars, sneaking into pop music charts, but it takes a field full of people, moving, jumping, dancing furiously, to prove that their brand of music is best enjoyed in mad, enthusiastic groups that aren't afraid to look silly while dancing.
Monday blues, bad traffic jams around the venue that caused hour-long delays, and in one fan's case a slip disk , were forgotten as they sang along to One, Miami to Ibiza and of course, the 2012 monster-hit Don't you worry child.
In fact, the last found played thrice over the course of the evening, the final time as a wistful, slowed down version that accompanied the credits, as the group proclaimed: “We came, we raved, we loved.”
The four-year-old group, which announced its split in June 2012 so the members could pursue their individual careers, has not ruled out a reunion. “Thanks for giving us this gift of today, Bangalore. Maybe we'll see you in the future,” they told the cheering crowds.
But if this was indeed the last time Bangalore heard Swedish House Mafia, it was a good last memory to have.
