Your Top Five Summa Must-Sees

With Summadayze and Summafieldayze going on sale, we figured it was high time to delve a little deeper into who’s coming to play. Back when the line-up was announced, we set up an inthemix poll to find out who you’re most hyped to see kick off 2012. The top five voted acts are below, with a little spiel from us about what to expect when they hit the stage.

Pendulum

The Chemical Brothers might’ve been the name at the top of the poster, but for many, Pendulum was the star of Future Music Festival. If you were there losing your shit and possibly your shoes in March, you’ll know the drum & bass collective can handle a headline slot.

We got on the phone last week with one of the band’s founders Gareth McGrillen to hear how they felt about that triumphant homecoming at Future. “I think there was enough of an audience to go around between both us and The Chemical Brothers,” he said. “They’re a real legacy act, y’know? They were really firing this year and hitting it hard, which was great to be around.”

As for headlining Summadayze and Summafieldayze, the guys certainly have the set-list and stage presence to make it work. As you’ll see from the videos below, when the crowd is right there with them, the live show is electric. “Being the headliner really works for us,” says McGrillen, “because we’ve always been that kind of band that’s been prepared to go the extra mile and spend every cent we’ve got making the show the best it can be.”

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris’s ridiculously busy Northern summer came to an end over the weekend with a headline slot at Creamfields in the UK. Despite a fierce bout of food poisoning making it difficult to stand up, he got through his set like a pro, and is now in bed paying for it. There’s no doubt about it, though: dropping the live show is working out for Calvin Harris.

“All I do now is play in a different club every day,” he told Oxegen festival last month. “Singing doesn’t suit me. I much prefer DJing, which makes for a better show.” Expect euphoric, anthem-stacked sets and scenes much like the one in the video below from Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas.

Markus Schulz

The top-voted must-see for the Summa festivals was trance favourite Markus Schulz. We last saw Schulz in the winter of 2010, around the time he delivered his Do You Dream? album. 2011 saw the DJ-producer return to his Dakota alias for Thoughts Become Things II, an album that he describes as “more about bigger, clubbier, more thrashing tunes – the Dakota name is more twisted and slaying than Markus Schulz.”

If you want a snapshot of what Schulz has been hammering over the European summer, you might care to track down his new mix compilation celebrating Space Ibiza’s Wednesday night fixture Be. Those ‘Big Room Reconstructions’ would certainly come in handy at a festival. Schulz’s Future Cities video from earlier this year gives a good sense of the elation his sets stir up.

Sasha

After wowing us with his V_rtek live show recently, Sasha will be back in focused DJ mode for the Summa shows. The veteran has been in his element over the Northern summer, with his Ushuaia Beach Club residency one of the Ibiza’s most desirable parties. The marathon Soundcloud recording below is his back-to-back set with another of Ushuaia’s 2011 stars, Luciano.

Moby

We’re all well familiar with Moby’s live show, but this summer will be his first proper DJ tour here. In short: prepare to rave. If your experience of Moby is limited to his Play album, you might be surprised to learn how much of a fiend he is on the CDJs. Just ask the kids who packed out at the Carl Cox & Friends tent at Ultra Music Festival in Miami. As one YouTube commenter puts it: “WTF? This can’t be the same Moby that made Porcelain?”

Snoop Dogg

Whether or not you consider yourself a Snoop Dogg fan, it’s not hard to imagine getting down to Snoop at a festival. I Wanna Rock, The Next Episode, Gin And Juice, What’s My Name, Drop It Like It’s Hot – he does ‘em all. Have you got a copy of the Up In Smoke DVD lurking in your collection? Of course you do.