Set Review: Vintage Culture @ On The Beach [Brighton]
From a small town in Brazil to topping the Billboard, Spotify, and Beatport charts, Vintage Culture’s career to-date has been nothing short of exciting. His debut 2024 album entitled Promised Land [2024] featured collabs with The Temper Trap, Maverick Sabre and Tube & Burger, which then went on to receive remixes from artists including CamelPhat, Solomun, Kolsch and many more. Vintage Culture rapid rise in populatory also saw him launch Vintage Is A Festival in his beloved Brazil, selling out stadiums with ease!
On Saturday 19th April, on Brighton’s seafront, he was set to perform at ‘On The Beach’, a sold-out event which also featured Eric Prydz, Massano, Korolova, Aaron Hibell, Amy Wiles and J Ribbon. The festival debuted in 2021, and has also hosted Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox, Chase & Status and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Due to Vintage Culture exploits in electronic dance music, it was only right we check him out and review his set on the day…
Slotted to play a 90-minute set, I thought the highlights of his set included a lot of his own productions, including ‘Vintage Culture, Fancy Inc & Meca – Electricity’ featuring a Techno kick pulsing through the foundations of the track, and a catchy yet simple vocal, whilst ‘Vintage Culture, Fancy Inc & Meca – Electricity’ has a strong breakdown, where the legendary vocal hook from Celeda’s iconic classic, “The Underground,” is worked in to inspire a new generation.
‘Adam Beyer, Vintage Culture – Lift Me Up’ also fused the best of both House and Techno, undeniable energy which is further complimented by Kyzo’s soul-stirring vocals, adding emotional depth to the track, and also ‘Vintage Culture – Do You’ which is all about rising tension and bold synths – there’s no easing in, just a sense that something’s about to lift off, a proper festival banger.
Other tracks which were a highlight in his set, crowd reactions wise was ‘MORTEN & David Guetta – Night In Detroit’ which combines powerful synths and euphoric arps, and the classic ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit, I Love This City’ topline, whilst also running out ‘Disfreq – Ligado’ saw his set lean further into Techno and Tech House even more, drawing inspiration from the use of hardware and analogue sounds.
What I also appreciated about Vintage Culture during his set was the fact that he paid homage to his homeland by dropping a classic; ‘Sergio Mendea – Magalenha’ which was released back in 1992 and had the crowd going ‘Te te te te-e te’, the version he dropped was also from fellow compatriot ANNA, which was an unreleased remix too.
Vintage Culture during his set also didn’t just play all the latest tracks from the Beatport Top 100, he threw in a few classics including ‘Tim Deluxe – It Just Won’t Do’, ‘Techtronic – Pump Up The Jam’ and ‘ATB – 9PM (Until I Come)’ through either remixes, vocals, or bootlegging the original with a modern release. For a festival set, this is what you want, fan engagement and a hint of nostalgia too.
Overall, after witnessing Vintage Culture tackle Brighton’s On The Beach, as an artist and DJ it is evident as to why he is in such demand worldwide; he has an ability to read a crowd, manipulate a crowd into various emotion through track selection, inc. his own, classic and unreleased ID tunes and it guarantees a unique experience, as opposed to DJ’s who play the same set week in week out. Kudos!
Vintage Culture’s latest release ‘Do You EP’ is available now via Solomun’s ‘Diynamic’, check it out HERE.
