David Guetta wants you to know that he has never faked a live performance in his career.
Speaking with the Daily Star (via Music News), Guetta said he was reminded of a comment made by fellow DJ/producer Deadmau5, who famously accused DJs of playing pre-recorded sets live.
“I won’t speak for other people, but I’ve never done that," the 56-year-old dance star says. "I always refused to do it, and I was very frustrated, but now I get to have the best of both worlds, which is to really DJ and to have to a perfect show simultaneously. You often see comments from people that I do this, but it’s not true. I love DJing, and DJing is about reading the crowd and connecting to them.
Guetta says that he could make his job easier by programming edits in advance, but for him it's about living in the moment. "I can prepare mash-ups or edits ahead of time that would sound better than if I did it live," he explains, "but for me programming and selecting records according to the crowd is 70 per cent of the job.”
Seeing Daft Punk's legendary performance on their Alive Tour is what inspired him to try and elevate his own live show. “I would go to see a show like Daft Punk’s Pyramid show and I was like, ‘This is amazing. Should I sacrifice being a DJ to have such an amazing show?"
Guetta has previously spoken about performing live and how his kids think he has the easiest job in the world. "My kids joke, if they want to buy something, 'Come on Dad you just have to raise your hands for five minutes and you can pay for that'," he told the Daily Star last year. "I'm like, 'Oh my God you guys are so insulting. You don't know everything that goes behind getting paid.'"
"People think, 'This guy is just having fun putting his hands in the air and people are singing his song'," he added. "They don't know I just release one record out of a hundred because my hard drive is full of s**t records!"
Guetta is set to release a new single his new single "When We Were Young" with Kim Petras this Friday (November 10).
It’s finally here!!! ‘When We Were Young’ with @kimpetras is coming this friday pic.twitter.com/Y1dewCqWYE
— David Guetta (@davidguetta) November 6, 2023