My Favorite Sets of 2021
By: Matthew Wagner
Tags: Top 10, Festivals, Concerts, Music

It has been a really messed up past few years that has affected so much of our lives. While not the most important by any means, the effect COVID has had on live music has been devastating. In addition to all the other insanity around things, it did really hurt not to be able to go to live shows and just let loose. While things are nowhere near back to normal, and while I’m writing this I just cancelled going to a show due to a new COVID surge, I at least did get to see a lot of good music in the second half of 2021 and thats at least something.

Like the last few years, except last year…, I’ve decided to make a list of my favorite sets of the year. These were sets that I appreciated more than ever, having not seen music for over a year and realizing just how precious the experience can be.

10. Aurora — Terminal 5

I only started listening to Aurora this year and had never even heard of her prior. But I’ve been getting really into her music over the last few months and then realized she was coming to NYC just days before her concert.

The show was actually the first large indoor show I’ve seen since the pandemic and with that came some anxieties. People are too close to me, I want to wear my mask the entire time but its hot and my glasses are fogging up. It just feels a bit overwhelming. But when Aurora was on stage none of that mattered. She had this ethereal quality about her, almost magical.

She put on an amazing show with a diverse set of songs, some slow, some getting the whole crowd dancing. It was one of the most beautiful sets I have seen, and just elicited pure happiness

9. Alesso — Electric Zoo

I have been a huge fan of Alesso for years now and have loved to see him live, ever since he was the first artist I saw at my first EDC. The previous show I saw him at was a shit show at Bill Graham where it was overcrowded and it was too insane to be fun. With that I was a bit worried what this show would be like, especially in the face on the pandemic still being a reality.

Thankfully this show had a ton of room and was an amazing set. He played most of the

hits I would hope for but the reason this set is so high up is really due to two moments in particular. The first was when he played Under Control. This is one of my all time favorite songs, and getting to hear it live at my first festival in 2 years with a crowd going nuts was unreal. I couldn’t stop smiling, dancing, and just being in awe of the experience.

The other moment was when he played Calling. Honestly if the entire rest of the set had been garbage it all wouldn’t have mattered, as long there was just this one song. I have rarely experienced the crowd excitement on the buildup of this song. It felt like every person in the crowd was singing along, including to the parts with no words. When the drop hit it felt like a moment of pure happiness. That in all the insanity of the world, all the awfulness of the last few years, everything, was just gone and it was all ok. In that moment I truly understood the power of music and the power of being at a show with others.

8. Chainsmokers — EDC

I really didn’t know what to expect with this Chainsmokers set. I got insanely into The Chainsmokers in 2016 and wanted to see them live at Coachella but the crowd was so massive we couldn’t even get close. Then I got to see them a few months later at EDC and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. The set was unreal and set the expectations high for future EDCs to come.

Then The Chainsmokers started changing. First with Closer which I loved, but then with

progressively poppy songs and their album which was terrible. After that they did release some songs I loved, but they just held a different place. I saw them at Chase Center which was fun but was not quite the same thing as the rave that blew my mind.

All that is to say, I didn’t know what the set would be like, could it possibly live up to the last time I saw them at EDC. The answer was pretty much yes. They went extremely hard, played amazing songs, and put on a ridiculous show. Other than a few moments of Drew singing which were unnecessary they really still had it and proved they could still go hard and make me fall in love with them again like it was 2016.

7. Jason Ross — EDC

I saw Jason Ross a few years earlier for the first time at EZOO when I didn’t really know who he was. I knew he was associated with Seven Lions and had a couple of songs I liked but that was it. I was pleasantly surprised by his set but it was early in the evening and it wasn’t anything special to me.

Since then I have gotten significantly more into Jason Ross. I devour each new release he puts out and he has produced some of my favorite songs both solo and in collabs with others. I was quite excited to see him now since it would be with a new appreciation.

His set at Kinetic Field really blew me away. Every song he played was insane and the crowd was going wild. I was standing behind a group of 4 people that were dancing and jumping harder than anyone and I was happy to be part of that energy. His set was early on in the night but it really helped set the energy for an amazing day of EDC.

6. Nicky Romero — EDC

I had never seen Nicky Romero live and hadn’t thought too much about him. He’s been a DJ I really liked but never someone I considered my favorite, or had a song that was like my fav of the year. When I looked back at my spotify though I realized that I loved many more songs of his than I realized and it got me really excited for the set.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a Nicky Romero set. I was expecting a lot of progressive house, buy beyond that I wasn’t sure what he would play. The set turned into just like the greatest hits of progressive house/big room and I couldn’t love it more.

I was loving the entire set but there was a certain point where literally every song he played was one of my favorite songs of all time. He played Clarity, which makes me so happy every time I hear. After that he started playing Titanium, an all time EDM classic. I was kind of freaking out just experiencing all the hits live and then he played the drop of Calling. Calling is by far my favorite drop ever and just like getting that in the middle of Titanium was hard to process.

He ended by playing Axwell ^ Ingrosso, his collab with Avicii, and Martin Garrix. It was honestly like he tailored his set just for me and I couldn’t get enough.

5. KSHMR — Electric Zoo

I had been waiting for so long for a set to just completely wow me after the long years away from shows and festivals. Earlier in the summer I had seen Zedd and Gareth Emery who were both solid, and then the night before I saw Alesso who I mentioned earlier in this list. All were great but nothing really fully hit until KSHMR.

KSHMR has been a favorite of mine live since I first saw him at EDC years before. I didn’t know too much about him then but his set was insane (and he had a EDM mix of Hava Nagila which was unbelievable). Since then I’ve seen him a few times and every time was better then the last.

His entire set at EZOO was out of control good. I was jumping and dancing insanely and his songs were exactly what I was looking for. The absolute highlight for me was when he played Power, a favorite of mine and something I forgot he worked on almost (I associated it more with Hardwell). The thing that took it to the next level was for the second drop he put in Tsunami. Tsunami is one of the most classic EDM songs and something that got me into EDM itself. I even listened to the Pitch Perfect 2 version of Tsunami a ton. Getting that live in the midst of another song I like was just perfect.

4. Martin Garrix — EDC

Martin Garrix is probably my favorite overall producer and one of the people I’ve been looking forward to seeing live the most. He doesn’t tour the US nearly as much as most of the people on this list so its been hard to see him and the last time I did was during some crazy wind at EDC and I didn’t get to fully appreciate the set.

So when I saw Martin Garrix was at EDC I knew I had to go and that this was likely going to be my favorite set of the weekend. The anticipation that night was getting to me, wanting to make that set as good as possible. I was worried about the crowds, especially in a COVID environment.

Thankfully everything worked out well for the set. The crowds weren’t too bad at all, we got a great spot and eventually found a larger friend group as well. Martin Garrix was unbelievable, playing an absurd amount of good songs and getting me insanely hyped. The only part that didn’t work so well was that he had an Area21 (his rap band) live performance for 10 minutes and it didn’t really fit for what I was looking for.

Still though the set was ridiculously good and basically all I could have asked for. I left the set sure that it would be my number one set of the year, and was shocked when it became not even my favorite set of the evening.

3. CHVRCHES — Terminal 5

CHVRCHES are my favorite band, basically since I first heard of them back as their first album was coming out. I had seen them live 6 times already, with each time being better and better as they have more and more amazing songs.

This year I even decided to get a tattoo (an ephemeral one that lasts a year) of the logo from their first album. I had been thinking of a tattoo for a while and unsure what to get and realized that the logo would be a perfect thing, to keep with me what the band has meant to me over the years.

CHVRCHES’ latest album is possibly even their best one and so I was super excited to see them play it live, especially after a prolonged drought due to COVID. They put on a ridiculously good show that got me and the crowd absurdly pumped.

The new songs they played were amazing to hear live, especially my favorites of How Not to Drown and Violent Delights. It felt unreal being there, like I almost wanted to cry with how happy I was.

Like every CHVRCHES show the highlight was when they played Clearest Blue. My all time favorite song from them that I’ve listened to consistently since it came out. Experiencing it live though is a completely different thing. The song builds and builds until it gets to this absolutely cathartic drop in which the entire crowd starts jumping. Getting that moment after such a fucked up few years felt extra cathartic and I never wanted it to end. I’ve now seen CHVRCHES seven times and I can’t wait to see them seven more.

2. KSHMR — EDC

As noted above, KSHMR puts on amazing show. So amazing that he has taken two spots in my top five. While I was super excited to see him, I had just seen an amazing set from him a little more than a month back so wasn’t expecting it to blow my mind again. I was very wrong.

I was a bit down on the evening after Martin Garrix just because that was such a high. There was no one after that I really cared about so we saw DJ snake, who I really did not care for. I kinda just felt tired and wanting to go home but was hoping KSHMR would pull me out of that. Thankfully he went way beyond those expectations.

The entire set was exactly what I needed. Songs that made the entire crowd jump and dance. The absolute highlight though was his Squid Game remix. Almost every DJ had some sort of squid game thing going on so the inclusion of it was nothing special. What made this one go above and beyond was that he actually turned it into a Red Light Green Light game. The entire crowd stopped moving and went dead silent on “Red Light”, and went absolutely nuts on “Green Light”. It was one of the most fun experiences at a show I had ever had.

In addition to that amazing experience the rest of the set was fantastic too. It was getting really late (post 4am) and part of me wanted to leave, but I just couldn’t. Like I was physically stuck at the stage. I decided I would leave after he played Power, Tsunami, and Secrets, probably my three favorite songs from him. He actually played those all in a row to end the set though so we stayed until the end. But having those three powerhouse songs to end everything was unforgettable, just like the entire set.

Zedd — EDC

People that know me well won’t be shocked to see Zedd as my number one of the year, but I was a bit shocked myself. I have seen Zedd more than any other artist by a wide margin (17 times) and with that experienced a lot of what he has done in the past. I had even seen him to start out the summer for my first show since COVID hit. That was a fun time, but he basically just played his same set from before.

Going into EDC I was even saying maybe I would skip part of Zedd and see Kygo instead. I had only seen Kygo twice and he was fantastic both times and figured maybe a change of pace would be nice. If Zedd was really going to play his same set from the past few years I didn’t need to see it again.

Thankfully I decided to see Zedd that night because it was one of the best times of my life. The show started with another squid game remix, this one lead into Do It To It and was ridiculous. The crowd went nuts and I knew it was going to be an awesome set.

The entire set was new (outside of the staples produced by Zedd) and every song he played was fantastic. The set had the perfect mix of bouncy jumpy songs and songs to just go crazy and dance to.

I was already feeling that the set was one of the best I had ever seen and then I realized Zedd was starting to play Tremor, an all time favorite of mine to hear live. Then seconds later he brought out Martin Garrix which made me even more excited. It was like this perfect moment. Immediately after he played Beautiful Now, another unbelievable song and I was in this moment of exhaustion from jumping so much but also pure bliss from how good everything was.

The entire set I couldn’t help thinking how amazing this was and how glad I was to be there. I was mad at myself for even considering not seeing Zedd. After this I will never consider that again.