Ballantine’s Study Shows Why Fans Want Authenticity At Shows as EDM festivals prove connection goes beyond the music

Ballantine’s has shared new global research looking at what makes fans feel closer to artists during live performances. Conducted by Censuswide in May 2026 among 9,003 music fans across nine countries, the study found that 88% of fans say authenticity is what truly connects them to artists, while 84% say unexpected, unscripted moments make live music more memorable. That finding connects closely to EDM festivals, where the relationship between a DJ and the crowd is built through more than the tracklist. Fans may come for the music, but they also remember what happens during the set: how the artist speaks to the crowd, responds to the people in front of them, handles a singalong, brings in a live element, or makes one part of the show feel specific to that night. In this setting, authenticity is not about making a performance look less polished. It is about giving the crowd something that feels direct, natural, and connected to the show they are actually at.

Why EDM Fans Connect Beyond The Tracklist

For EDM festivals, the tracklist is usually the first thing fans look for after a set because it gives them the easiest way to trace what happened: the unreleased ID, the older record brought back at the right time, the remix people were trying to find, or the vocal that ended up being sung louder by the crowd than through the speakers. But the list of songs alone cannot explain why one set stays with people longer than another. What changes live is the way a DJ uses those tracks in front of an audience, whether a vocal is pulled back so the crowd carries it, a drop is delayed long enough for the front rows to react, or a familiar record feels different because it comes after a run of tracks that has already pulled the crowd into the set.

Research published in Empirical Studies of the Arts gives that live connection a more specific context by examining how audiences respond to visible DJ behavior during electronic music events. Across recorded DJ performances in Belgian EDM clubs, researchers tracked actions such as dancing, grooving, eye contact, smiling, moving from the console, and console use, while also collecting real-time audience feedback. The study found that DJs’ physical engagement, especially dancing, increased audience positive affect, while moving away from the console decreased it. The same research also found that these behaviors did not significantly change how audiences rated the DJ or the music itself, which makes the finding more useful for understanding festival connection. Fans may not consciously judge a set by one gesture behind the decks, but they still respond when the artist looks physically involved in what is happening in front of the stage.

Mic Moments And Crowd Control Make Fans Part Of The Set

Direct crowd interaction is one of the clearest ways an EDM festival set can stop feeling interchangeable from one city to another. A line like John Summit’s “how the fuck we feeling, baby?” is simple enough that it would almost sound meaningless outside a live setting, yet at festivals it has become part of how fans recognize his sets because of where and when he uses it. The city name before the line matters just as much as the phrase itself because it turns the moment into something tied to that specific crowd instead of another stop on the tour schedule. Fans remember the exact build before the drop, the reaction from the front rows, and the second where thousands of people answer back at once. In dance music, those moments sit somewhere between crowd participation and live identity, where a short phrase can become associated with an artist in the same way as a signature track or remix.

That same connection becomes even more visible during large-scale crowd-control moments, especially with artists like Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, whose festival sets are structured around audience participation as much as the music itself. Their collaboration with W&W, “Crowd Control,” takes the idea almost literally, but the bigger point is how those moments work live when an entire festival crowd moves, jumps, crouches, chants, or waits for the same cue together. The audience is no longer reacting after the drop happens; they are part of the build-up before the music comes back in. That is also why repeated live rituals stay memorable in EDM culture even when they are predictable. Fans already know Steve Aoki’s cake-throwing might happen before the set even starts, yet people still make signs asking for it because the ritual itself has become part of the shared festival experience. For live electronic music, connection is often strongest when the crowd stops feeling separated from the performance and starts feeling physically involved in it.

Storytelling And Live Elements Give EDM Another Kind Of Authenticity

Some of the strongest EDM performances connect because the artist brings more than a DJ set to the stage. KSHMR is one of the clearest examples of that. His shows have often pulled from cinematic storytelling, Indian musical references, live instruments, and orchestral sections, giving the audience a performance that feels connected to his own background and writing. That side of his work became especially clear with his Live Orchestral Experience, which combined electronic production with live orchestral parts, animation, and story-led visuals. The Lion Across The Field adds more context to that approach, since the EP was inspired by a children’s book he wrote himself. For KSHMR, the connection is not about sounding spontaneous on the mic. It comes from the way his shows carry his own references, arrangements, and story ideas into the live format.

Where KSHMR uses orchestration and narrative to make the show feel connected to his own world, Fred again.. does it through material that feels closer to everyday life. His performances often use voice notes, personal samples, live pads, and recorded fragments that keep the focus on real people and real conversations inside the music. That approach has worked even at major scale, with his surprise Sydney Opera House show reportedly drawing around 125,000 people trying for roughly 2,250 tickets. The size of that demand matters because it shows that fans are not only responding to production value or festival hype. They are responding to a live format where the artist is still visibly working with the sounds, triggering samples, and placing those recorded voices into the set as it unfolds. In this part of EDM, authenticity comes from letting the audience hear where the music came from, not only where it is going on stage.

Tribute Tracks And Lyrics Turn Private Meaning Into A Shared Festival Moment

At EDM festivals, vocal tracks often hit harder when the crowd already knows the words before the DJ plays them. Martin Garrix playing Avicii’s “Waiting For Love” works because the song connects directly to both artists: it is an Avicii record, while Martin Garrix is credited as a writer and producer on it. The lyrics move from “Monday left me broken” into “I’ll be waiting for love, waiting for love to come around,” which gives the song a feeling of patience and recovery that fits naturally into a tribute moment. When that vocal comes into a festival set, fans are not only reacting to Avicii’s legacy or Martin Garrix’s role in the track. They are singing words that already carry their own memory of the song.

That is also why Swedish House Mafia’s “Don’t You Worry Child” still feels huge years later. The chorus gives the crowd a full line of reassurance with “Don’t you worry, don’t you worry, child. See, Heaven’s got a plan for you,” while Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” turns growing up and confusion into something people can sing through “all this time I was finding myself, and I didn’t know I was lost.” Zedd and Foxes’ “Clarity” brings a different kind of tension with “If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? If our love’s insanity, why are you my clarity?” These are not just catchy festival hooks. They are complete thoughts that people can connect to their own lives before they ever hear them in a crowd.

That same feeling carries into newer festival records like Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha’s “In The Name Of Love” and John Summit and Hayla’s “Where You Are.” “Would you trust me when you’re jumping from the heights? Would you fall in the name of love?” gives “In The Name Of Love” its sense of risk and devotion, while “Where You Are” is more direct with “Mixed emotions. Hearts still open. Though we’re far apart. I wanna be where you are.” In a festival setting, lines like these stop feeling private because thousands of people are singing them at the same time. That is why vocal EDM can make a set feel personal even when the DJ barely says anything on the mic.