Have you ever pictured being outdoors in negative temperatures and having the time of your life? Well the power of music can make any environment enjoyable. Eric Prydz and Cristoph performed a sold-out show at Igloofest in Montreal on Friday, February 2nd. This was the only sold-out night of the show so far in 2024.
Igloofest, or better known as the coldest festival in the world, takes place at Old Port Montreal every year for four weekends from January to February. Attendees usually have to be warm to brave the negative temperatures. The past weekend was not one of the worst we have experienced. The lows were from -15 to -10°C, what kept us warm were the amazing fire pits at the back where you could roast marshmallows. If not that, the crowds of the packed show kept you warm. The VIP zone had heated spots near the bar, which was perfect for Friday night.
Ostrich, Cristoph & Eric Prdyz
Early in the night, the crowd warmed up to the sound of Montreal-local Ostrich at the Sapporo Stage where I spent my night. The Deep Tech House artist set up the stage from 7:30pm and had the crowd very prepared for Cristoph. A Newcastle native, he had a groovy one-and-a-half-hour set and played his classic hits like ‘Tha Music‘, ‘Swoon‘ and ‘Revolver‘ to name a few. Cristoph had the crowd dancing and toned up the heat with amazing visuals on a cold winter night in Montreal. Fans including me could not get enough of that set. EDMTunes had a chance to chat with Cristoph right before his set, do have a read right below the event review. He definitely has a few secrets to share and plans for a big 2024.
Cristoph lay the land perfectly for the man himself, Eric Prydz. Of course, Mr. Prdyz sold out the Montreal show and did not disappoint. It was 2 hours of bliss, you knew it would be legendary when he started off with his remix of ‘Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus‘. He had a perfect mix of all his classics and aliases — Cirez D and Pryda. What got me dancing the most was ‘Bootshaus 2012 ID‘, a Cirez D working title and ‘Melbourne Trak / UMF 2014 ID‘, a Pryda working title. He took the crowd by surprise with his ending tracks being ‘Pjanoo‘, ‘Viro‘ and the banger ‘Allein‘ for the last. Witnessing a few Prydz sets in my time I was very ecstatic with his choice of ending with Allein. All this music transposed me to a warm happy place forgetting I was out bundled up on a cold night.
If you want to experience the two hours of magic we did with Eric Prydz, check out the set list here.
EDMTunes Chats with Cristoph
EDMTunes had a chance to sit with Cristoph and have a quick chat before his set. Hope you enjoy this read!
EDMTunes – Welcome to Montreal, what’s your favourite part so far/what are you looking forward to?
Cristoph – I just landed two hours ago, so I haven’t seen anything yet. I do enjoy the cold, and I would really want to ski/snowboard but my best friend says if I do try it I will definitely injure myself. I am quite injury-prone, so right now sticking away from that.
EDMTunes – 2023 was big, loved your Open to Close concept. What inspired you to do that series?
Cristoph – *Cough* my manager – hints Rene his manager from the back. Basically, I am really into the style of DJing at night where it is more focused on the music, the venue and the people. Rather than all the lights on the DJ and all the focus on them. I enjoy raving in a dark room, where there is minimal light and the whole cliche of going on a journey. That was the idea behind the Open to Close series. I do enjoy every art of DJing. Whether it is from the warming up, to the mid section, and the closing out. So we decided to give it a go and were delighted to see how well it actually did.
EDMTunes – Anything different you are planning to do in 2024, that your fans haven’t experienced so far?
Cristoph – The open-to-close was such a success, we have decided to build a bit of a lighting show with it. It is not visuals, but it is lighting. I want the night to still be more minimalistic than any of these great big screens. The AI visuals are becoming monotonous, we want it to be about the clubbers and them enjoying the night. So we want to create lighting to go with the music and gigs going forward. The New York show at the end of this month will be the first one we will premier this at. Of course it has to be in certain venues to get the rig in. From there onwards hopefully there will be festival shows where we can build this into more than just America. We are hoping to then take this open to close worldwide.
Growing up I did look up to America, so it has been surreal for me to go around and play in such great venues.
EDMTunes – You have been producing music for the last decade, what has been your most technically challenging track to make so far?
Cristoph – Oh that is a good question. Some of the vocal tracks have really grounded me down. I used to send versions to management and Eric for feedback. I have 50-60 projects of some of those records, little tweaks here and there. All of it to get the sound and clarity on a full vocal track like ‘Illusions’ where you need a peak to sit above the music but still feel integrated into the record. It became a tough one and I just wanted it to be over. But overall it really got me there and I was grateful for their feedback and how it turned out.
EDMTunes – Your recent Consequence of Society Mix was great, let’s talk a bit about this series/concept of yours.
Cristoph – The whole Consequence of Society, it is the music I play into the consequence of the society I was brought up in. So I used to sneak into clubs with my brother like everyone seems to know. It was the shindig in Newcastle when I was 15. That progressive music coming out from the likes of Danny Howells and others, they paved the way. The whole label, mixed series I just wanted to keep it as one name so we can build a brand. I want to keep the simplicity and push the brand, I have the link with it being the consequence of society I was brought up in.
EDMTunes – Any plans on making an album?
Cristoph – It’s been a discussion over the past 4-5 weeks. I am doing a Facet, there is an idea for the fourth Facet and perhaps tying them out. I will keep putting them out, and as we think of doing an album and then an album tour. So probably after the next open-to-close tour then it might be the album which will be 2025. I have my idea of what I want to do for my album but it will take some time.
EDMTunes – What would you do if you weren’t a DJ? And what is the weirdest food you’ve eaten?
Cristoph – I really don’t know, no one has asked me that. In all honesty, I don’t know. I have an obsession & passion for criminal psychology. That is what I fall asleep watching, something along those lines. Definitely not a detective. But happy I am a DJ and doing this!
Ah weird, well I had a grasshopper taco once when I was down in Texas. You could feel the hair on the legs whilst I ate it, so strange. Maybe octopus would be the weirdest. The weird texture! Ha – thank you this was fun!
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