DJ and music producer Laidback Luke is mourning the death of his friend, Avicii, and also reflects on the time in 2015 when he had a “vision” that the Swedish DJ and producer would join the “elite group of legends that all passed away at the same age.”
On Friday, on the same day Avicii was found dead in Oman at the age of 28, Laidback Luke called into SiriusXM to talk about when he last saw the late producer and how he somewhat foresaw Avicii’s shocking death.
“This must’ve been in 2015 when he invited me to open for his show in Ibiza, and it was there and then where I watched his show on the sidelines, where I got the actual vision of — I wrote this for Billboard — where I saw him joining the rock star elite group of legends that all passed away at around the same age, the age of 27, and I had this vision and I needed to write about it and make people aware,” he said. “I can’t believe it actually freaking happened.”
Indeed, in 2016, Laidback Luke, whose real name is Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen, wrote an op-ed for Billboard after Avicii decided to cancel the rest of his gigs due to health issues.
In the op-ed, Laidback Luke wrote that he saw Avicii at the Ushaia hotel in Ibiza: “He looked terrible. He gave me a very sincere but oh-so-tired smile when he saw me. Soon after, he was onstage playing his amazing music — and that’s when it dawned on me. This wonderful and talented kid might not overcome his struggles.”
Back then, he wrote, “At that moment, I envisioned my friend, now 26, joining the infamous ’27 club’ of music and film stars who died at that age. It sounds horrible but it’s the truth, and I can’t take back the overwhelming sense of frustration I felt. It was like watching ‘Amy,’ the recent Amy Winehouse documentary, and suddenly realizing that you too were laughingly belting out her lyrics — ‘They tried to make me go to rehab/I said no no no’ — while we all watched the spectacle, seeing tragedy unfold and not doing a damn thing.”
On SiriusXM, Laidback Luke said Avicii had “aged significantly” and was “very much closed off from reality.”
“The way he was living his life, it wasn’t really a life anymore; it was constantly dealing with his anxiety,” he added. “Performing was his biggest anxiety so each and every single night, he had to face his biggest anxiety. That will get you at a certain point. And I can’t believe someone didn’t say earlier, ‘maybe we should slow down with the shows and have you make more music.’”
Back in 2015, Laidback Luke also wrote, “The first few years of heavy touring can have a major impact on a person’s life, health and sanity. DJs on tour average about four hours of sleep per night, and with drinking, afterparties, adulation and everything that comes with it, it’s easy to lose oneself.”
Laidback Luke says he doesn’t “know what happened,” but after dealing with his own struggles eight years ago, he says he “could’ve given him so much advice to turn this whole thing around.”
On Friday, famous DJ Tiesto also called into SiriusXM and said he last saw Avicii two months ago for dinner in Los Angeles, where he seemed to be “doing well, he was healthy.”
“He was not going to go on tour yet but he was thinking about it,” Tiesto said. “He felt very healthy and he was living the healthy life in L.A.”
Listen to the interview above.