DJ Avicii Will Do It All for the East End

The East End is on the verge of becoming the hottest locale in the music world—at least for one night—as the legendary Nile Rodgers announced that none other than superstar DJ Avicii will be joining him and Chic for the BNB Presents—AFTEE Nile Rodgers Dance Party on August 19 at Martha Clara Vineyards.

With the Martha Clara field that will hold the stage and a crowd of thousands in the background, Rodgers elicited tremendous applause when he broke the news that Avicii would be part of the inaugural AFTEE (All For The East End) music event to raise funds for a grant program to aid more than 1,000 East End nonprofits.

“I wanted to curate this [event] in a way that feels like it represents what AFTEE represents,” Rodgers said. “We have a proactive initiative, it’s to fix things in the here and now but it’s also to fix things for the future. So I wanted to have music, and musicians and artists, that not only represent the here and the now…but for the future, something that’s inspirational.”

Avicii fits that bill as “a really hot young superstar that represents the next generation, that represents the continuation of music on the next level,” Rodgers said, his enthusiasm clearly shared by the crowd and the early rush of buyers for tickets, which went on sale today. The Swedish DJ has built a fan base of millions and risen to the top of his game with hits like “Bromance,” “My Feelings For You” and “Street Dancer,” plus hit remixes of Tiësto, Robyn, David Guetta, and Bob Sinclar, and his popular LE7ELS podcast. Teaming with the man who wrote “Le Freak,” “Good Times” and more songs than you could list in a single sitting will make for a memorable night on the North Fork.

With AFTEE board members, media, sponsors and the likes of Assemblyman Fred Thiele and Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter on hand, Rodgers spoke about the importance of the hottest DJ in the world coming to rock the East End and support the local not-for-profits that will benefit from the proceeds.

“Musicians have always been the most altruistic people I’ve ever met,” Rodgers said, and the 23-year-old Avicii is continuing that do-good tradition. “Before he performs here, he literally will be performing for about 70,000 people on the other side of the world, then he’s going to get on a plane…fly here, and come to play for us,” Rodgers continued. “To have an artist of this caliber come and share this evening with me and to share it with this community here is going to be huge—it’s going to be one of the coolest things you have ever seen.”

But attendees are going to have to do more than just look. “I am just going to go on record here,” Rodgers said, “all of you people who think you don’t know how to dance, and all of you people who think you go to events and don’t dance, I’m going to be taking names, because I guarantee you are going to be dancing that night. Be ready to sweat. Don’t bring your nicest clothes, because they will be ruined.”

Rodgers, who with his Fender Stratocaster nicknamed “The Hitmaker” has created more than $2 billion worth of music and has worked with legendary talents from Madonna to Diana Ross to David Bowie to Daft Punk on “Get Lucky”—currently the number one song in a record 79 countries—also noted that he’ll be following up the huge Avicii news with more big news.

“I’m going to continue to announce, over the next few weeks, other guest stars who are going to be performing with me. Every day I’m making records with really, really big stars, and quite a few of them are out here on the East End during the summer. And it’s going to be pretty hard to keep them off the stage with me, because that’s what we do.”

For tickets and more information, visit aftee.org.