Not relegating a DJ to a dark corner of a club was a rare incident, at one point. Then came the lightshows and arena performances. But while other electronic producers include arena venues in their global treks, Swedish house DJ Avicii is the first to have an arena-exclusive tour, which kicks off on April 5 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The “Levels” producer starts his U.S. leg on April 17 in Bridgeport, Conn., and ends in Saskatoon, Canada, on July 4.
Breaking the news of the tour to fans, the producer born Tim Bergling tweeted: “I’m so excited for my first arena tour coming up. Will be trying to blow everyone away with something huge!!”
Avicii’s Le7els tour includes statewide stops at Coachella and the Sweetlife Festival in Columbia, Md. Following his performance during the second night of the Ultra Music Festival, in which he premiered a new remix of Madonna’s latest single “Girls Gone Wild,” Avicii spoke with Billboard, discussing his Coachella set, considered his first live show, in the process. He said: “I’m premiering my first live show at Coachella – which is gonna be amazing. It’s something my manager has been working on for a long time and we put a lot of money in it and a lot of time.”
Coachella is expected to be a step up from Avicii’s Ultra set, which has since been his most prominent U.S. opportunity. Back when he was announced as the headliner for the annual Miami music festival, he told Rolling Stone: “This is the first time we’re able to use this amount of production for this show and we’ve been working on it, especially for the shows in general in 2012. I don’t know what I can and can’t say, but it’s going to be completely massive. That’s the thing we’ve tried to focus on; we don’t want to do anything that anyone else is doing right now. What we’re working on right now is gonna be something unique.”
Avicii won’t be the only EDM producer at Coachella. Joining him across all three days are Swedish House Mafia, Afrojack, David Guetta, Martin Solveig, Kaskade, Dada Life, and Calvin Harris.
For those in the New York area, the Bridgeport show at the Webster Bank Arena is the closest the Swedish house producer gets to the city. The next closest appearance is at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, on June 20. Other dates in the Northeast include shows in Boston (June 15), Rhode Island (April 18), and Pittsburgh (June 14).
Although he has toured over the past few years, including as an opener for Tiesto, 2011 saw Avicii rise with hits “Levels,” “Seek Bromance,” and “My Feelings for You” and major festival billings. Placing No. 6 in DJ Magazine’s Top100 poll was an additional success. Since his breakthrough, the Swedish producer started his Levels podcast and, in an interview with Forbes, mentioned he has additional projects in the works.
