Former world No. 1 DJ to lay down tracks at Syracuse concert Friday
In a small outbuilding by Destiny USA, one of the world’s most famous EDM DJs will yet again lay down some of the hottest tracks in dance music for locals and students alike.
Hardwell — whose real name is Robbert van de Corput — will visit Syracuse for the second time and is bringing Kill The Buzz and Thomas Newson with him. The show will be on Friday at F Shed at the Market, where he performed in 2014.
Hardwell said in an email that he is looking forward to coming back to Syracuse and playing at a more intimate venue because it allows him to be more experimental with his set.
Originally from Breda, Holland, the DJ started rising through the ranks of Dutch dance music at age 14 when he signed his first record deal, according to his website. He became the youngest DJ to ever win the top spot on DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJ list in 2013 and won again in 2014.
The megastar is now accustomed to playing at major music festivals such as Tomorrowland in Belgium, which brought together about 400,000 visitors in 2015, according to Inquisitr.com. But coming to the fans is just as important to him, he said.
I’m actually a really big fan of doing bus tours, because it allows me to visit smaller, unique cities and share the music that I love with them. The sets are always more intimate, and the energy is just wild because we’re playing back-to-back shows for basically two weeks straight.Hardwell
Syracuse is the 10th stop on the 2016 Revealed North American bus tour, which is the third iteration of Hardwell’s famed bus tours. His 2014 appearance in Syracuse was also part of a bus tour.
Although on this visit he is not the No. 1 DJ in the world — Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike usurped him in 2015 — he said he is still set to play the dynamic, spur-of-the-moment set he is known for.
Other new additions to this tour include Kill The Buzz and Thomas Newson, who are both signed to Hardwell’s own record label, Revealed Recordings. Both of the up-and-comers are also from Holland.
The two opening acts have only been prominent on the electronic dance music scene for a few years, but Hardwell said they still constantly learn from each other.
The whole Revealed team is like a family, so it’s always great to be able to spend time with my friends and do what I love to do with them.Hardwell
Aside from touring, Hardwell has also spent time recently working on his charity, the United We Are Foundation. On Dec. 13, he put on a show in Mumbai, India, that he called the “World’s Biggest Guestlist” to raise funds for education initiatives in India, according to the event’s Facebook page.
He invited 100,000 fans to come to the show on his personal guestlist and donated the money he would have made to his United We Are Foundation and the United Welfare Trust, an Indian non-governmental organization, to disperse to children in need, according to the Facebook page.
When Hardwell comes to Syracuse, he will bring people together for a different reason. Young locals and Syracuse University students will have the chance to meet each other and share experiences in ways they usually do not outside of major EDM concerts.
“It makes me so happy to see the positive impact that EDM is having on the world,” Hardwell said. “There’s no feeling quite like seeing your music bring together a group of different people that are united together for one cause — to share in the beauty and magic of EDM.”