Playing a festival is one thing. Coming home afterwards is another.
After sets like Joburg Day and UNTOLD 2026, the adrenaline does not disappear the moment the music stops. It follows you into the car, the hotel room, the flight home—and, for me, straight into the studio.
When I am on stage, I am listening to more than the crowd. I am listening for the moments when they react: the drop that hits harder than expected, the vocal that makes people sing without thinking, the transition that changes the energy of the entire floor. Those reactions are information. They tell me what people are feeling, not just what they are hearing.
That is why I try to capture ideas as soon as possible after a show. Sometimes it is a bassline idea recorded on my phone. Sometimes it is a note about a transition that worked better live than I expected. Other times, it is simply a feeling: this is the kind of energy I want to create next.
Back in the studio, those notes become the starting point for new music. A crowd’s response can shape the structure of a track, the build, the drop, the breakdown, and the moment when everything comes back in. I do not want to make music that only sounds good on headphones. I want it to work when a room full of people is moving together.
The best part is that the process goes both ways. Live shows give me ideas for the studio, and new tracks give me something fresh to test in front of a crowd. Every set becomes part of the next release, and every release eventually becomes part of a future set.
That is what I love about being a DJ and producer: the music never really stays in one place. It moves from the studio to the stage, from the stage back into my head, and then into whatever I create next.
The festivals may end, but the energy does not. It just becomes the next track.