Steve Aoki is all geared up for Ultra SA 2020

Africa's largest electronic music festival takes place in Cape Town at The Ostrich Farm on February 28 and Expo Centre, Nasrec, on February 29 in Johannesburg.

The headline acts this year include Afrojack, Black Coffee, DJ Snake, Jamie Jones, Steve Aoki and The Return of Dash Berlin.

Talk about star power. House duo Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano make a return to South Africa, after performing in 2013, and they promise to get fans into a serious groove.

Luciano is part of the headliners. The Chilean-born house and techno legend has been instrumental in promoting the underground electronic music scene in his home country and around the world.

I managed to sneak in a quick chat with Aoki, who said: “I’ve been dying to come back to South Africa to play my tour, but to be playing it with the Ultra South African family, makes it that much better.

“I am very close to the Ultra team, and have played at numerous Ultra festivals all over the world. They are so close to my heart and they always produce incredible festivals, so I know that this one is going to be top-notch.”

He has been ranked as one of the Top 10 DJs in the world by DJ Mags. On making such a prestigious list, he said: “I am so grateful to have so many amazing fans from all over the world that spend their time voting for me as one of their favourite DJs.

“There are so many DJs out there, so many producers whose names they could be writing down, but they are writing my name down.

I care deeply about what I do, this is my life, so when people care about what I’m creating and offering in my live shows, it means the world to me.

“Once again, I am so grateful for all my fans. Thank you… I will keep pushing myself to produce music that compliments and challenges the culture, to make new and interesting kinds of music.”

And he has a pretty exciting set planned.

He said: “Well, Neon Future IV will be out by then, so I will be mixing up a lot of new music that I have just recently been working on.

“But it will be roughly six years (2014) since I was last in South Africa, so I feel like I need to be mixing up the classic tracks that people know me for, as well as the current sounds of Steve Aoki.

“I want to drop Neon Future IV and Neon Future III, so really it will be a mixed bag….I want to go through my archive, and select tracks that bridge the different periods of my music, but at the same time have a really interactive crowd participatory show, because that is what I love to do, and know that is what my fans love to hear and see.”

Meanwhile, RESISTANCE is, as usual, offering the Main Stage a proper run for its money with techno and house beats. Featuring international legends alongside South African superstar in the making Shimza, returning local hero Themba, and other regional underground fixtures such as Floyd Lavine, Ryan Murgatroyd, Leighton Moody and Pierre Johnston.

Regional artists added to the bill on the Main Stage and at BudX stage include Sho Madjozi, DJ Zinhle, Aero Manyelo, Timo ODV, PHFat, Kyle Watson, Dean FUEL, Protoculture, Abby Nurock, Fresh and Euphonik and many more.

The 5FM stage will be hosted by Roger Goode and will see Kyle Cassim, Pascal & Pearce, Ms Cosmo, Guy Herman, No Method, pH, Strange Loving and more raising those energy levels all night long.