Concert Review: Swedish House Mafia Brings Down The House

Concert Review: Swedish House Mafia Brings Down The House
Written by Niche Dumlao || Photos by Magic Liwanag Photography for Ovation Productions

News shocked the dance music community – heck, the music community in general – when back in June 2012, EDM masters Swedish House Mafia announced that they were calling it quits. A post on their official website states:

"Today we want to share with you, that the tour we are about to go on will be our last. We want to thank every single one of you that came with us on this journey. We came, we raved, we loved."
And like wildfire, word spread of this alarming declaration from the group composed of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. Though successful in their own DJ careers, there will always be an undeniable force when the three collaborate together. A strong force…a dance music phalanx. As for their falling out, Rolling Stone magazine shares Angello’s sentiments on the issue saying that "we just decided that we reached a point where we didn't know what the next move would be," and that "we've had beyond our dreams and we've come very, very far”.



From there, the demand for SMH skyrocketed as every city in the world wanted to bid farewell to the group. Appropriately called One Last Tour, the group scheduled a series of shows which spans over 6 months in over 5 continents. Luckily, Manila was included in their Asian leg thanks to Ovation Productions.

Although there were only 2 of the Mafia guys present (Steve was suffering from some stomach related illness we were told), it didn’t kill the mood as Axwell and Seb fired dance dynamites one after the other. Opening with “Greyhound”, the pair sifted through their discography as a group and as individuals. Axwell’s hits such as “Nothing But Love”, “In My Mind”, Together” and “Sweet Disposition” remix were in the artillery. While Seb had the monstrous “Calling” and “Reload” as his weapons. And in the middle of this sound assault, the boys delivered the ultimate fan service when they hoisted the Philippine flag in the middle of their set.

Truly, showing their love to the very eager SM Arena crowd. But of course, the big guns were the Swedish House Mafia tracks. “Antidote”, “One”, “Miami To Ibiza” were all met with rave reception, still their 2 most popular ones – namely “Save the World” and “Don’t You Worry Child” set the crowd into a massive party explosion. Prompting Axwell to comment, “Manila, it’s true what they say, you sing great”.

The lights were stellar, the effects were spectacular, the show memorable. After all, it’s the first and (probably?) the last time the boys come to our shores. And true to their parting words…they came, we raved, we loved. And there’s nothing shocking about that.