The final DJ set of a night or stage, traditionally given to the headline artist or a respected closer.
Definition
The closing set is the final DJ slot of a night or stage at a club or festival. It is a position of significant prestige in dance music: the closer plays after every other artist has finished, has the longest sustained relationship with the audience, and is responsible for delivering both the night's emotional peak and its eventual resolution. Famous closers in trance include Paul van Dyk, who often plays sunrise sets at Tomorrowland and Mayday, and Markus Schulz, whose open-to-close residencies at Avalon Hollywood became legendary. A great closing set requires a different kind of energy management than a peak-time slot — building from where the previous DJ left off, knowing when to deploy classics, and reading a crowd that has been on the dancefloor for hours.