Best Sets Series: Hardwell

In any artists’ dedicated fan group, you’ll come across a discussion about their best performances. We decided we would do the same thing here at EDMTunes and give you the Best Sets for a range of DJs and producers. This series will highlight each artists’ best and most memorable live performances. The ones that really make their career and the ones any fan should know about. This edition features the king of big room, Hardwell.

Ultra 2013 Weekend 1

This is regarded by most as Hardwell’s most career-defining performance. It was the set that catapulted him from a daytime set to a festival closer and world’s #1 DJ. This set established the model he would follow for years to come.

Tomorrowland 2013

I AM HARDWELL Kickoff – 2013

This was the beginning of Hardwell’s multi-year world tour. It was one of the few opportunities to see Hardwell play for 2+ hours. This set introduced a number of big room smash singles like W&W’s “Thunder”.

Ultra Miami 2014

After Swedish House Mafia broke up, it was left to Hardwell to close down Ultra Music Festival. Luckily he was riding high after being crowned #1 DJ by DJ Mag Top 100. This set was rip-roaring from beginning to end and a great example of a festival closer set.

Hardwell b2b Tiesto @ Tomorrowland 2014

For Tomorrowland’s 10th Anniversary the festival united Tiesto and his prodigy, Hardwell for a Zero 76 back-to-back. At the time, Big Room was king and these two dutchmen were the kings of big room.

Hardwell b2b Armin van Buuren @ AMF

After going back to back with Tiesto, Hardwell’s other most notable b2b was with fellow Dutchman Armin van Buuren. Fresh off their “Off The Hook” collaboration, this b2b set deftly combined both artists’ catalogs for a special one-off set.

Hip-Hop Mayan Art Car Set @ EDC 2015

One of the stranger sets that Hardwell has done went down at EDC Vegas in 2015. For those that don’t know Hardwell started off as an open format hip-hop DJ. In a surprise move, Hardwell played a hip-hop set on the Mayan Art Car during the festival.

Tomorrowland 2018

After headlining Tomorrowland in 2015, Hardwell and Tomorrowland had a bit of a falling out related to DJ Mag and TML residents Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. As a result, Hardwell was not invited to Tomorrowland in 2016 or 2017. That’s why his return in 2018 was met with such fanfare. In fact, he kicked off his Week 1 set with his bootleg of Eminem’s “Guess Who’s Back” and revealed his followup to the smash “Apollo”.