Thousand of fans paid tribute to the late DJ Avicii at Coachella this weekend.
Avicii AKA Tim Bergling was tragically found dead in Muscat, Oman on Friday (April 20) while on holiday with friends. He was just 28.
Kygo ended his set at week two of the California festival by playing Avicii’s 2017 hit ‘Without You’, citing the late Swedish DJ as the reason he got into EDM.
“In honour of Avicii I want you to dance and sing along and let’s celebrate the life of a true musical genius,” Kygo announced to the emotional crowd, as a picture of Avicii appeared on the screens with the words ‘Rest in Peace We Will Miss You 1989 – 2018′.
Watch below.
Kygo pays tribute to Avicii during his #Coachella weekend 2 set with “Without You” pic.twitter.com/4xBi8NRHLQ
— Denny Directo (@DDirecto) April 21, 2018
“Coachella, I think most of you guys have heard, but today is a very sad day for music,” Kygo told the crowd.
“Earlier today I got the news that Avicii passed away [at] only 28 years old. Avicii was my biggest musical inspiration and he was the reason I started making electronic music so I don’t think I would’ve been on this stage tonight if it wasn’t for him.
“I know he’s inspired millions of other producers out there. So I want to end my set tonight with my favorite Avicii song.”
During his set, Kygo also brought out Ariana Grande who made a surprise appearance at the festival, dropping into Kygo’s set to perform her new single.
Grande returned this week with ‘No Tears Left To Cry’, her first new single since last year’s Manchester Arena attack.
Kygo pays tribute to Avicii during his #Coachella weekend 2 set with “Without You” pic.twitter.com/4xBi8NRHLQ
— Denny Directo (@DDirecto) April 21, 2018
Police have confirmed they are not treating Avicii’s death as suspicious, following two postmortems.
In 2016, Avicii retired from performing live. Reports at the time suggested that the star had suffered from health problems, including “acute pancreatitis, in part due to excessive drinking”. He had his gallbladder and appendix removed in 2014.
His ‘completely devastated’ family have arrived in Oman to fly his body home.
Yesterday, an A&R executive who worked closely with Avicii throughout his career revealed the star was working on new music before his death, saying “it was his best music in years”.
A Dutch church made a moving tribute to the DJ by recreating three of his hits with church bells.