Hardwell Thinks That Swedish House Mafia Will Be Ultra’s Guests This Year
During a recent interview with Slam.nl, Hardwell decided to share his thoughts of who will be the surprise guests at Ultra Music Festival in 2018.
While the interview is in Dutch, the interviewer asked Hardwell “there have been so many rumours about Swedish House Mafia closing Ultra on Sunday, what do you think?” Hardwell in turn responded by saying “Well honestly, I also think this. Do you know why I think this? I looked at the facts and the deciding factor for me was that Steve Angello, one of the three members of SHM, canceled his Asia tour out of the blue, suddenly doesn’t have any shows planned, and he is in Miami. For me, this means that it HAS TO happen.”
Watch the interview below:
Hardwell isn’t the only one who’s been playing detective here — Swedish House Mafia reunion rumors have been swirling around Ultra for a few years running at this point, fueled by the same pattern of the three members’ individual schedules mysteriously clearing up right around festival season in Miami. But Hardwell’s read on the situation is a little more grounded than the usual internet speculation, since he’s not just going off vibes — he’s citing an actual, checkable fact about Steve Angello’s tour dates disappearing and him showing up in the right city at the right time.
It’s also worth remembering that Hardwell has a personal stake in this rumor mill beyond just being a fan. He’s long cited Swedish House Mafia as a major influence on his own sound and came up through the same big room European scene the trio helped popularize, so it makes sense he’d be paying close attention to their every move.
And in this case, Hardwell’s hunch turned out to be dead on. Swedish House Mafia — Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso — reunited on the Ultra main stage on March 25, 2018, during the festival’s 20th anniversary edition, marking their first time performing together in five years. The surprise set sent shockwaves through the dance music world and set off a proper reunion, including new music and a full world tour in the years that followed. So while EDM Sauce can’t verify every detail of Hardwell’s Dutch-language interview word for word beyond the quote above, we can say with confidence that his prediction about the “facts” pointing to a reunion checked out.
Not a bad bit of festival forecasting from a guy who, by his own account, was mostly just reading between the lines of somebody else’s tour calendar.
