Calvin Harris Claps Back at Festivalgoer Who Criticized His Set

Calvin Harris is adamant that his live set will put fans in their “Feels.”

The EDM superstar, 40, performed a headlining set at Ultra Music Festival in Miami on Sunday, and after several festivalgoers took to social media to criticize his set, he clapped back in response.

The hitmaker responded in the comments to a post on Instagram made by the electronic music publication Dancing Astronaut, which included a compilation of footage from his show on the festival main stage.

Addressing a comment that described his set as “underwhelming,” Harris defended playing mostly his own songs and how much effort he put into the show.

“you expect me to play none of my songs?” he wrote, going on to refer to several of his classic tunes and their popularity. “3 songs since 2014 hmm how deep is your love – billion streams, this is what u came for – billion streams, my way – billion streams, slide – billion streams, feels – billion streams, one kiss – billion streams, and the other 5 half a bil and before 2014 another 20.”

Harris added that his aforementioned hits are “not cheesy s—,” but rather “proper f—ing songs with real artists.”

“you’d rather I play Fein trap edits today,” the Grammy winner continued, referring to Travis Scott’s 2023 song “FE!N” featuring Playboi Carti and how many other EDM stars play remixes of other tracks during their festival sets.

Harris also explained that he put a lot of work into curating his entire setlist, which Dance Astronauts reported featured 19 songs, including his smash hit with Rihanna, “This Is What You Came For,” his beloved Ellie Goulding features “I Need Your Love,” “Outside” and “Miracle,” his recent Sam Smith collaboration, “Desire,” “Feel So Close,” and more.

“spent months making new versions of everything for this and you wonder why I never play edm festivals,” he shared.

Harris’ comment concluded with him saying that he’s pleased with his Ultra set, despite the naysayers. “at least people I saw irl had a great time and I can be happy with that but f— at this point whatever I do is gonna piss you off,” the producer wrote.

Although a select few festival goers called the set “boring” or noted that it was the only set at Ultra that wasn’t live streamed, which may have been the cause of some fans’ frustrations, many also voiced their support for the Scottish musician.

“set was epic! I’m not alone in thinking that,” one fan replied, while another said, “no need to cater to these trolls sir, you will always be one of the greatest producers of all time for many of us 🔥.”

One fan wrote that they had seen Harris live six times and always has “a great time.” “There’s way more of us that appreciate what you do than the losers who will lean negative on everything in life,” the comment continued. “Thank you for bringing the heat!”

Harris was among the stacked lineup at this year’s Ultra Music Festival, which ran from March 22-24 in Miami’s Bayfront Park. He was joined by fellow electronic stars like David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Tiësto and others.

The “Summer” artist is set to play a handful of other EDM and pop music festivals, as well as his own solo sets, across the globe throughout the spring and summer. In the coming months, he’ll headline Tecate Emblema in Mexico City, Pinkpop Festival in Holland, Garorock in Marmande, France, Glasgow, Scotland’s TRNSMT and several other major events.

In a February interview with the radio program Capital Dance, Harris revealed that he’s considering retiring from DJing in the next 10 years.

“I always said that once I get past 50, I can’t see me DJing, man,” he admitted.

The musician, who’s produced songs for artists like Dua Lipa explained, “I think I’d prefer to be in the studio making tunes, like ghost producers.”

“I think that’s where the majority of my talent lies, is making songs sound good,” he continued. “So, I would like to make other people’s records sound good.”