Sunday night saw an event which many people thought would never come, the return of Swedish House Mafia. Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso took to the main stage of Ultra music festival to play hits such as "Save The World", "Don't You Worry Child" and "Miami 2 Ibiza" along with two unreleased productions.

The somewhat open secret reunion was the jewel in the crown of Ultra's 20th Anniversary edition, but it got us thinking about other reunions we never thought would happen. Lets have a look at the greatest reunions in dance music.

 

Swedish House Mafia

The EDM supergroup who played their final show at Ultra five years ago reunited to close out the 20th anniversary of the same festival. The collapse of the trio was well documented their Leave The World Behind documentary with Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso staying together as a duo, while Steve Angello pursued a solo career. Their return will be a welcome injection of new life into the EDM scene they helped create.

 

Sasha & Digweed

They thought it could never happen and all the sweeter as it happened in our booth! Over a decade of separation wiped away in one night. The original DJ supergroup basically invented progressive house and their Northern Exposure albums are some of the most celebrated mix albums in history. When we booked John Digweed for an all night set in March 2016, we had no idea that history was in the making. A few hours into the set Sasha arrived in the booth and the two proceeded to go B2B for the rest of the night. Since then we've been treated to a Sasha & Digweed world tour, with the promise of more shows in the future.

 

The Streets

No one ever thought The Streets reunion would happen. Much of their final album's lyrics focus on the pressures both within and on the band. After the split Mike Skinner immersed himself in a wide range of projects including making his directorial debut with Hip Hop In The Holy Land. Musically, he focused on DJing and his party concept, Tonga, with Murkage Dave. Then in late 2017, with a single Instagram post The Streets were back! Since then we've had three new tracks from the band and their first reunion show is just a few weeks away.

 

Bad Company

All-star DnB crew Bad Company were one of the most highly respected acts in Drum & Bass. It all fell apart in 2005 when members DJ Fresh and dBridge left to pursue solo careers. Maldini and Vegas stuck together and formed Bad Taste Recordings. The stark contrast in styles between Fresh, dBridge and Bad Taste fostered the idea that BC would never reform, but last year the impossible happened. Hatchets were buried, two new tracks were released and all four members performed together at Hospitality In The Dock last April.

 

Jamiroquai

After a seven year hiatus, it was seeming like Jamiroquai could be gone for good, but on 16th Jan 2017 they released a trailer for their eighth studio album, Automaton. The announcement came out of nowhere and completely broadsided the music media, who had to quickly decide whether to great the reunion with excitement or trepidation. In the end the fans did the talking and Jamiroquai promptly sold out back to back nights at the O2. Jamiroquai rode into the summer festival season on a wave of good vibes, but unfortunately it wasn't to last as a serious injury to Jay Kay's spine put the upcoming world tour on hold.

 

Daft Punk

Not strictly a reunion as Daft Punk never technically split up, but years later we now know how close to the brink they came. In the 2015 documentary, Daft Punk: Unchained, those close to the robots, including manager Busy P, reveal that the fallout from their poorly received third album, Human After All, and various other pressures meant that the end of Daft Punk seemed to be coming. The duo refused to promote the album and it looked like the project could be on it's last legs. Thankfully, Tomas and Guy-Man doubled down and created one of the biggest moments in dance music history with their surprise Coachella show. The performance vindicated Human After All, by showing how it could blend with the previous two albums to create something bigger than the sum of its parts. This performance directly led to the celebrated Alive 2007 world tour and had a profound affect on the dance music industry - showing that arena levels of production could work in the space and directly paved the way for the EDM explosion.

 

Steps

Because it was a real Tragedy when they split up....