My different approach to club and festival sets…

I’ll always take the same approach whether I’m playing a festival or a club show — I never know exactly what I’m going to play, so I arrive early, listen to the DJs before me, feel the room, and start reading the crowd so I can figure where the energy is and where I need to take it musically.

Clubs are generally easier to take over from because I usually have longer sets. I can reset the vibe, take my time, and  unfold a musical story. Festivals are a very different challenge. With 60-minute sets there’s no margin for error — make a couple of wrong choices and the crowd simply drifts to another stages.

Pressure is even more intensified as the festival landscape has dramatically changed over the years with the majority of DJ’s playing none stop hits, where as I take the opposite stance I want to expose people to a new musical experience that they didn’t realise they wanted with new fresh tracks, I have to be on my A game to ensure I capture them and hold them into this journey whilst not losing their attention.

I’m in a privileged position to play in front of large crowds, and I take that responsibility seriously. I want to use that platform to expose people to new music and new artists — hopefully encouraging them to explore deeper and support those artists and scenes too.

I’m not there to be ‘man of the match’, but to contribute to the overall musical experience, to add a different flavour.