An incident at Sónar festival on June 14, 2025, affected the electronic music world. During his headlining set, a fan watching the livestream noticed something on the mixer in front of Eric Prydz. A screenshot posted to Reddit showed the DJ’s equipment displaying only one audio waveform, instead of the two or more needed for live mixing.
The implication was that Prydz was playing a pre-recorded set. The post stated that the artist “could have literally stepped off stage and we would be hearing the exact same thing”. This image started a debate about what “live performance” means in the 21st century.
Prydz’s Side of the Story: “The Show Must Go On”
As the controversy grew, Eric Prydz responded directly on Reddit. He described a technical failure just moments before his set. According to Prydz, there was a “malfunction of the set-up,” and attempts to replace the CDJ players and mixer failed, leaving only one deck operational.
With 15,000 fans waiting, Prydz and his team had to choose between canceling the show or finding a solution. His tour manager had a backup plan: an audio rehearsal created in Logic Pro for his HOLOSPHERE 2.0 residency in Ibiza. They made the call to play that file. Prydz framed the decision as one made for the fans, choosing to put his reputation “in the line of fire” to ensure the show went on.
A Fandom Divided: Cover-Up or Crisis Management?
Prydz’s explanation didn’t end the debate; it fractured the community into two camps.
- The Defense: Some fans rallied to his side, praising his honesty and professionalism. They argued that an artist of his stature has nothing to prove and that a technical disaster is possible. Given the complexity of his HOLO shows, having an audio backup seemed like a practical move.
- The Skeptics: Others met the story with suspicion, calling it a “cover-up”. Critics, including a sound engineer on Reddit, found it improbable that a festival like Sónar would have an equipment meltdown that affected only one artist. The key evidence for this camp was the act of “miming”—Prydz was seen twisting knobs and pretending to mix, which they felt made the situation “a thousand times worse”.
The Bigger Debate: To Press Play or Not to Play?
The Prydz incident is a flashpoint for an argument in dance music. Is it ever acceptable for a DJ to play a pre-recorded set?
The “pragmatist” view is that for festival productions with synchronized visuals and pyrotechnics, pre-planning is needed to deliver a consistent show. However, the “purist” camp argues that this excuse doesn’t hold up. Technology like timecoding has allowed DJs to perform live sets with synced visuals for years. For them, the art of DJing is about reading a crowd and creating an experience in the moment—something a pre-recorded file makes impossible. It risks turning the DJ from a live artist into an actor.
Ultimately, the Sónar controversy leaves fans with a question. Was Eric Prydz a professional who saved his show from disaster, or an artist caught faking it? His explanation is plausible, especially given that his HOLO shows are known for being planned audiovisual spectacles. The incident forces every electronic music fan to decide what they value more: the energy of a live set, or the perfection of a planned spectacle.
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