Video games and dance music culture has always been closely intertwined with Twitch streamers and professional gaming events making full use EDM in both highlight reel clips and even background music for live events.
Last week, Hardwell was invited to perform at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice one of the most hotly anticipated Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments of the year. Unfortunately for Hardwell, even in a crowd of literally thousands, he was hard pressed to find any gamers that were willing to jump, let alone stand up, through his entire performance. A majority of the attendees were sitting down on their phones and almost all of the crowd shots revealed just how disinterested they seemed to be – despite Hardwell’s stunning visual production and indoor pyro usage.
I guess this just goes to show that the Katowice crowd was clearly there for Counter-Strike and not Hardwell which results in a laughably uncomfortable video for the most parts. Despite all efforts, Hardwell was hardly able to muster a reaction in the crowd other than a sparse collection of raised hands – even at the drops. In fact, the performance was so awkward it even prompted a Reddit thread in the CS:GO subreddit about abandoning EDM performers in the future due to the ‘cringefest of the crowd’ as /u/I_REE_therefore_I_am put so eloquently. 
At least the video ended with rapturous applause and the stadium cheering Hardwell which makes for some of the more awkward moments. Stream it all below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1346&v=vjQX5JUa6iY
H/T: EDM Sauce / Reddit | Featured Image Source: Krystal Spencer
