Axwell Λ Ingrosso Literally Set Fire To MTV Stage At V Festival!

When the line up for this year's V Festival was announced we couldn't believe our luck to see 2/3 of the Swedish House Mafia, Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso teaming up for a new chapter of dance mayhem in what doesn't feel all that long since the supergroup disbanded. The Swedes were back under the guise of their new show Axwell Λ Ingrosso...and headlining our very own MTV stage no less in Chelmsford last night (August 17).

Such was the excitement of their return, the feeling manifested itself with a fire up in the rafters twenty minutes into the show! Thankfully, the professional stage hands ensured the show could carry on with a bang...figuratively speaking...10-15 minutes after dealing with the tiddly flames.

Feeling: For this reviewer at least, the anticipation to see two of the world's top DJs reunited again on our turf was electrifying. Having just gotten into the spirit of the show, the technical hitch was unfortunate but ever the master DJs, they knew exactly how to whip us back up into a frenzy.

The Look: Shrouded behind a black veil in true SHM style, Axwell and Ingrosso stood on an LED-lit plinth, flanked by percussion instruments with a square lighting set up forming a cage around the duo. Trippy visualisations on a huge screen behind them sucked you into their world while fireworks, smoke cannons and coloured flame throwers were used to effect sparingly (we all know these dance acts love a good blast of CO2!). Ironically the best pyrotechnics came AFTER the real fire...

Tunes: Dropping past tracks they've made together, separately, or as part of SHM, tunes like Center Of The Universe, Axwell's In My Mind remix and Mafia faves Leave The World Behind and Greyhound, we also heard forthcoming new material from the pair like Can't Hold Us Down and On My Way. Keep your ears peeled (?!) for those soon.

There were edits and mash ups galore, fusing the choruses from the likes of Disclosure's Latch, Oliver Heldens' Gecko (Overdrive) and Ed Sheeran's Sing into the devasting drops of bangers like Clockwork's remix of Congorock's Bless Di Nation making the set more accessible to any 'first timers' in the crowd.

A corker of an ending with Daft Punk's One More Time spliced with Save The World followed by Ingrosso's belter Reload ensured this year's MTV stage was signed off in spectacular style with thousands of revellers bellowing out the words.

Banter: Applauding the crowd for sticking around while the "microscopic fire" was sorted out, Axwell was on MC duties to thank the thousands in the audience for supporting them and moreso for alerting them to the 'danger' overhead.

Celeb Spots: This was no time to be on Celeb Watch, we were too busy reaching for the lasers!

Sweat Factor: Able to feel the burn of the flame throwers a good 100 metres back into the crowd, there must have been a few singed eyebrows this morning from the keenos down in the front row! Sweat? Of course!

Summary: They came (back), we raved, we LOVED! All that praying to the gods for the return of the Swedes (two out of three ain't bad) paid off with the twosome putting on a show of epic visuals and euphoric tunes. Props for not being divas about the technical difficulties too. Welcome back guys, world tour soon? Kthanksbye!