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The Ten Best Sets From Tomorrowland Weekend 2

Relive the magic of the epic performances by Martin Garrix, Tiësto, Oliver Heldens, and more.

Well, it's finally over. After two long weekends, Tomorrowland 2014, which was once a psychedelic fairy tale alternate universe, has reverted back into a bunch of muddy fields perched around patches of swamps. Nevertheless, we're still basking in the afterglow of the beautiful, bro-tastic Belgian shitshow. We can still see toned raver bodies prowling the festival grounds in our mind's eye, and we can still hear the anthemic melodies on the 10 songs that got rinsed the most at the 6-day blowout. Actually, we can still hear those melodies loud and clear, as many of the performances were recorded and archived on the Internet for all of us relive the magic. We slogged through the good, the bad, and the super faded DJ sets available online and selected our ten favorites so that we can keep the party going from the safety of our own homes. And once you burn through these, you can go farther back in time and check out the ten most memorable appearances from weekend one. Who's up for round three?

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MARTIN GARRIX

The tracklist for Martin Garrix's Weekend 2 set reads like the main stage lineup for world domination. Dillon Francis, Pitbull, Lil John, will.i.am, R3hab, Hardwell, Icona Pop, Swedish House Mafia, and Zedd all feature on the list, sometimes on the same track title. Certain songs on this roster have about six or seven names crammed together—for example, "Martin Garrix & Firebeatz vs. Swedish House Mafia & Knife party vs. Zedd & Lucky Date vs. Icona Pop," which we can't figure out for the life of us.

Our boy AVB was one of the original DJs to grace the stage at Tomorrowland way back in 2005, when the festival was just a baby. He's appeared at the festival almost every year since, from what we can glean, and it seems that his sets just keep getting better, as they continue to evolve. This one starts a bit grim and cavernous, but it explodes into full-on trance euphoria soon enough. Try to tell us you don't get a few butterflies inside when he breaks out that Jesus pose.

Philadelphia stalwart Josh Wink continued the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of his Ovum label at Tomorrowland with a bouncy set of acid house and percussive jack tracks. This one lacks the overwhelmingly euphoric energy of many of the main stagers' mixes, but what Wink lacks in sky scraping synth melodies and face-melting drops, he makes up for in curt drum programming and old-school vocals. Also, swag.

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There were almost as many DJs involved in this set as there were producers lending a hand to the tracks Martin Garrix played at Weekend 2. And the artwork for this mix, which features all five of them in goofy superhero costumes, is almost as brilliant as the set itself. There's plenty of hits in here from the likes of Skrillex, Duck Sauce, Hardwell, and the Chemical Brothers, but there are also a few curveballs, like the Linkin Park a cappella nestled into the middle.

Sven Väth has been the go-to guy for German vibes at major festivals and Ibiza bashes for longer than we can remember (probably because we always party hard at his sets), and Tomorrowland was no exception. The Cocoon boss kept gummy minimal tech-house vibes rolling for a while, but all we've got to show for it is a 24-minute segment. Nevertheless, he manages to cram a whole lot of different moods into a short time: yo-yo-ing synths, bruising basslines, and anthemic leads abound.

If Sven Väth is the don of German techno in the mainstream universe, Paul Kalkbrenner is second-in-command, and the man in charge of the country's capital, Berlin. We've only got a 10-minute clip from his set, but that's enough to get a taste for the extremely summery vibes he proliferated. Cute guitar licks pulse between punchy kicks. We also love that fact that PK always dons a fresh soccer, or seeing that Tomorrowland is in Europe—Futbol—kit when he takes the stage.

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SETH TROXLER

The latest star of our

Crate Expectations

series, the always-touring Seth Troxler, globe-hopped his way over to Tomorrowland to represent VisionQuest, despite the fact that

he hates music festivals

. His style is well represented here with plenty of deep kicks, crunchy claps, and relentless hi-hats. While he might claim he's anti-megafest, he certainly does a good job faking it throughout the course of this mixie.


Let's face it: No massive super-festival blowout is complete without a headling set from Tiësto. The trance-turned-anthem-house-king is obviously riding high on the release of his recent album, A Town Called Paradise. There are, of course, a few Tiësto jams in here, as well as a few tracks that we heard over and over again throughout the festival, like Martin Garrix's collaboration with Afrojack, "Turn Up the Speakers." We're pretty sure Tijs can do this stuff with his eyes closed at this point.

Our little gecko friend has returned. He migth be on that "Koala" tip now, but after having a #1 hit in the UK with "Overdrive," people around the world are starting to take note of the hirtsute Dutch teen. He plays deep house for main stages, and his catchy tunes and energetic selections are a joy to behold.

CARL COX

What can we say about Coxy which we haven't already? This guy straight up eats festival crowds for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea. Unparalled in his song selection, undisputed in the ability to suck you into his warm and genial clutches, and with enough catchy taglines to give Will Ferrell writers block—Carl is doesn't ever disappoint. Some things never change, and we know he won't either.