{"id":946447,"date":"2026-05-08T16:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/946447\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T16:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T16:36:18","slug":"alok-on-returning-to-london-with-bombastic-rave-the-world-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/946447\/","title":{"rendered":"Alok on Returning to London With Bombastic ‘Rave The World’ Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen Alok<\/a> returns to London this June, it\u2019s not just another show.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s heading back to Brixton \u2014 the same area in the capital where he once worked as a barman after moving there in 2010 and struggling to find gigs \u2014 to debut Rave The World, a new concept he\u2019s been building across both his live shows and his music. The show is set to run for one night only at the O2 Academy Brixton on June 5, and for him, it carries a lot of personal weight.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe project also marks a shift from his previous Keep Art Human era, a show rooted in ideas around technology, presence and how people engage with music. That production leaned heavily on scale, with large stage builds, choreographed dancers and a visual narrative that unfolded across the set, which he famously brought to Coachella<\/a> in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Rave The World, he\u2019s moving in a slightly different direction. The idea is to strip things back to something more immediate, a concept that lands within seconds, whether it\u2019s on a festival stage or placed in the middle of a street. At the core of it is what he describes as a \u201crave box,\u201d a compact setup where pre-shot clips of dancers are projected in a way that makes them feel physically present.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s also designed to travel. Unlike his previous productions, which relied on large builds and dozens of performers, this one can move easily across spaces while still holding its own visually.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the same time, the idea extends beyond the stage. Speaking exclusively to Billboard U.K.<\/a>, Alok shares that he\u2019s closing his label Controversia and starting a new one under the same name, Rave The World, using it as a space for music that sits closer to clubs, raves and festivals, and doesn\u2019t necessarily fit within a major label system.<\/p>\n

\n\tBack when he first moved to London with his twin brother, things looked very different. Their psytrance project had early traction, but the move didn\u2019t go the way they expected. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have the requests, we didn\u2019t have gigs,\u201d he says. \u201cMe and my brother, we broke up our project.\u201d What followed was a reset, one that eventually led him to start over on his own.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, more than 10 years later, he\u2019s going back to that same part of the city to make good on a mission over a decade in the making.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tYou lived in London back in 2010. What do you remember from that time, and how did it shape you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI lived there with my twin brother [Bhaskar Petrillo], and we had a psytrance project called Logica. It was going quite well on platforms like Beatport and we had a lot of requests in Europe. We moved there thinking it was going to be good for the career, but what happened was actually the opposite. We didn\u2019t have the requests, we didn\u2019t have gigs.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s when I created my project, Alok. It was a moment where I kind of freed myself from a prison that I created by myself. I came from a very underground scene and I wanted to do something different.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I came back to Brazil, I told my dad that I wanted to quit music and go to university because it was so complicated to live through art. I was seeing everyone struggling financially. But my dad told me that if he had my talent, he would be way bigger than I am and wouldn\u2019t be wasting time. He said if you want to abandon something, quit the university. So I said \u201cOK, this is my last try. I\u2019m going to keep doing it, but I\u2019m going to do what I want to do, not what you want me to do.\u201d And that was the best decision.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy was it important for you to go back to Brixton for this particular show, and to do it as a one-night-only?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I was in London I started dropping my C.V. [curriculum vitae] in all the clubs, but no one answered. One day, a club told me they weren\u2019t looking for DJs but needed a bartender. I started to study and I became a barman in a pub in Brixton, so going back there now feels like a full cycle.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt wasn\u2019t even my idea in the beginning. The team came up with it because they wanted to do something that could close the cycle. When they brought it to me, it gave me a lot of memories and triggers.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think I need to go through it. It\u2019s something personal for me. Sometimes you try to avoid it, like why go [back to] Brixton again? But now I have to go back and kind of\u2026 heal myself.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat is Rave The World and how did that idea come together?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIn order for me to really move anything in a direction, I need to have a purpose for it. Otherwise it just doesn\u2019t drive me. Last year I turned 34 and for the first time I realized that there\u2019s a new generation coming and they\u2019re shaping the culture in a way I haven\u2019t seen before. In my generation, we followed a lot of the rules. This one is completely different. They have the internet, social media power, and they\u2019re changing everything.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt that moment, I felt I needed to connect with them. So we were thinking about a concept, and at first it was like \u2018let\u2019s save the world.\u2019 But then I asked my creative director\u2019s daughter \u2013 she\u2019s Gen Z \u2013 what she thought, and she said she\u2019s sick and tired of people saying that. She said \u201cthere\u2019s no other world, this is the only one, and you guys failed with it and now you want us to save it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was very interesting, because we realized we were not connected. So I just thought, \u201cOK save the world, remove the \u2018S\u2019 and make it Rave The World.\u201d When I Googled it, it said \u201cdo you mean save the world?\u201d I said no, I mean rave it. And when I told her that, she said that\u2019s amazing, she connected with it. That\u2019s how it came into fruition.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tYou mentioned a \u2018rave box\u2019 as part of the show. What does that actually look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWe needed something super simple and efficient, something you understand in a few seconds. Because with Keep Art Human, we needed a big stage, like 50 dancers and all that. It\u2019s not easy to bring that everywhere.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo we created this rave box. We shoot real dancers and project them inside, so when you see the show, it feels like they are really there. And we can place this box anywhere in the world, even in the middle of the street, and people get it immediately. That\u2019s how we concentrated everything into one concept.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve played to massive crowds over the years, including over one million people<\/a> at shows like Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. What does that actually feel like in real time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHonestly, when you play for over a million people, you only realize that when you see the footage after. In the moment, you can\u2019t really understand it.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s why we created the pyramid, 30 meters high and 360 degrees, so I can see everyone around. That\u2019s the only stage where I can actually see the full crowd. We\u2019ve been doing these big shows for years, but I think now people are paying more attention.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou recently collaborated with Khalid on \u201cDive Into Me.\u201d How did that come together?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWe had already worked on some versions of \u201cDive Into Me\u201d consisting of samples by \u201cWhat\u2019s a Girl to Do\u201d by Fatima Yamaha, but didn\u2019t have the rights to release it. Then Khalid came up with a version, and we pitched again.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe changed the lyrics of the verse and did a fantastic job. We spent like eight hours in the studio recording a lot of lines. Then the next day he said he still missed some things and went back to the studio again. I really loved working with him. He works very hard and has a lot of passion for what he does.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou also recently made an appearance at Sphere in Las Vegas with ILLENIUM<\/a>, which has become one of the most talked-about venues globally. What was that experience like for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s one of those very unique venues in the world. The experience is really out of this world. It\u2019s something that can change the music industry. But it wasn\u2019t my show, I was supporting ILLENIUM. He did everything and gave me space with visuals and effects. He was super humble to do that. His performance is so outstanding, it\u2019s like a movie.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlongside the Rave The World concept and show, you\u2019re also launching a new label under the same name. What does that next phase look like for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m going to release songs that match this concept. Not many releases, because I\u2019m not worried about quantity. I just want to release what I really believe in. Some of these songs might not be accepted by a major label because they are more for clubs and festivals, but that\u2019s the direction now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Alok returns to London this June, it\u2019s not just another show. He\u2019s heading back to Brixton \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[39110,748,393,42876,112041,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-946447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-billboard-uk","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-genre-dance","12":"tag-genre-electronic","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116539936235472425","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}