10 of the most iconic marathon DJ sets ever

Last weekend, Italian talent Joseph Capriati dominated with a spontaneous 25-hour and 30 minute DJ set that took place at Heart Nightclub in Miami. Though he did have the intention of playing what’s known as a “marathon set”, he admitted the next day (after a long bought of well-deserved sleep, hopefully) that he had no idea he’d go on to break his personal record for longest set.

There’s something very special about the elite league of artists able to capture a crowd for five, eight, 10 or more hours thanks to their fine-tuned curation abilities. Danny Tenaglia championed his way to legend status after making his 12-hour sets a signature and any underground savant knows that a Villalobos set is a guaranteed good time with a strong chance of marathoning involved. Mixmag has compiled some of our absolute favorite marathon winners and their stories.

Want insider tips on how to play the perfect marathon set? Find our guide here.

After 20 years in business, in 2015, Shoreditch’s beloved Plastic People club closed its doors, but not without one more final and worthy hurrah from Floating Points and Four Tet. Both had held residencies at the venue across the past eight years and had plenty to tee up to the decks for its speaker system’s final run. “We set about packing the anthems from our respective residencies,” Floating Points explains. “On the night, once the people were through the doors, [we] played two records in turn for the rest of the dance.”

In 2016, the nightlife community said a tearful goodbye to Space Ibiza, which closed its doors after hosting some of the most iconic nights in the White Isle’s history. Of course, it only made sense for fan-favorite Carl Cox to make the closing series a special one. For his 14-year long Music is Revolution residency, he played one final time in Space Ibiza, going out with a bang with an epic nine-hour set. He also decided to play vinyl for the first time in 10 years, giving the night an extra special touch. “I want to show respect to those older tunes,” Carl said about his marathon set. “Dig out some of my old vinyl and play them alongside new tunes.” He did just that, playing tunes from the likes of Derrick Carter and Jeff Mills to the surprising but heartfelt choice to close out with ‘The End’ from The Doors.

In 2008, Erol Alkan headed to Fire in London for a five-hour set on Easter Thursday. It would become the start to an annual tradition which saw him return every year ahead of the holiday for a lengthier and lengthier set - he’d add an hour for each new year that he completed the set. Five years later, he decided to conclude the series with a 10-hour set for the holiday set. Thanks to tradition, Erol’s set began with candlelight as it had every year and saw him playing a diverse variety of tunes ranging from ambient to disco cubs, eventually finding its way into the techno and house realm with a few pop and rock classics tossed in.

Some might remember the viral news that spread in 2016 about a banana, which was put on sale on eBay in 2016. But it wasn’t just any old banana, it was a banana that Ben Klock had brought with him as a healthy snack for his upcoming 12-hour set at Berghain. “Ben Klock had this banana with him to consume after his almost 12-hours long closing set on January 4 at Berghain/Panorama Bar,” user oke3000 wrote, excitedly. “He handed it to me [...] after [the] remaining ravers and me begged him to play another last record. I kissed his hand, he kissed mine and the banana was the physical bond of ours, of this moment. He explained he had some before and they were delicious; I believe him, his banana still looks yummy!” Despite only having information about the banana, we somehow still know that Klock’s set was totally epic that night.

Raving for a good cause is always commendable, but there’s yet to be anyone who has done it was well and as big as DJ EZ. The UK Garage pioneer announced that he’d be taking on a 24-hour set in the name of charity, simultaneously raising money for cancer research. "I've been lucky enough to enjoy a great DJ career and I'm also truly grateful for the support I've received,” he stated in the teaser video for the epic set. “So now, I would like to give something back to those less fortunate." The iconic set took place in 2016, ended up raising over £60,000 and concluded with a remix of the one and only ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley.

Marco Carola is certainly no stranger to lengthy sets, but to handle one solo for the entirety of a day? Now that’s a feat. And it’s one he accomplished at Sunwaves Festival in Romania in 2015. The Music On boss had his crowd going for a full 24 hours, but unsurprisingly had to take a break and sit for some of the extensive set. We bet he had the best night’s sleep after.

Not to be outdone, two years after Marco Carola completed his record-breaking 2015 set at Sunwaves, Dubfire came in, guns blazing, for a 25-hour set at the same festival. He ended up snatching the crown for longest solo set in the festival’s history right off of Marco Carola’s noggin. According to his website, the only challenge that remains ahead of Dubfire in regards to Sunwaves is tINI and Bill Patrick’s 31-hour b2b set. Say, Marco, what are you up to next year…?

Danny Tenaglia is what one might call an absolute champion of the marathon set. He made 12-hour sets his signature early on, prompting many a curious fan to ask - what's the longest set Danny has ever played? In an interview, he responded that the crown went to a 2004 set called the "closing forever" set for Vinyl, a now defunct club in New York City. "We said it would be a 24 hour marathon Sunday to Monday," Danny explained. "After 24 hours everyone said their goodbyes and all the customers left. We ended up staying three hours longer with just the staff. It got emotional, [and] I was playing music - not really DJing - but just playing songs and going out there and dancing and hugging. I wound up being in that room a little over 30 hours."

If you’ve got nothing to do for, say, the next 10+ days, you could take your shot at trying to break DJ Obi’s world record for longest DJ set. That’s right, the Nigerian DJ completed a 240-hour marathon at Lagos Cafe in 2016, playing a set that extended across 10 full sleepless days.

In order to fully qualify for the title, Obi had to follow strict Guinness World Record guidelines: he was allowed one five minute break every hour, allowed one hour break every 12 hours, had to have at least one person dancing at all times and could not repeat a song within four hours of playing it. He was afforded medical check-ins and was also allowed to take vitamins throughout the week long event, and explained that he survived it by taking “disco naps” (closing his eyes for five seconds) but could not actually fall asleep otherwise he’d be disqualified.

He probably wouldn’t recommend trying to beat his record, though, as he explained afterwards that around the fourth or fifth day, he thought about giving up as he began hallucinating… but somehow, he pulled through.

Though many soloists have championed the art of the marathon set, we couldn't go on without giving a bonus shout out to tINI and Bill Patrick, who have helped solidify Sunwaves Festival in Romania as the go to marathon destination for underground artists with a 31-hour b2b session.

Funny enough, after Marco Carola stole the spotlight in 2015 with his own extended set, tINI (who was originally meant to play the festival too) was cancelled for "unforeseen circumstances". Many speculated that it was because Carola's unplanned marathon rolled over her scheduled set time, so perhaps the massive b2b slot was Sunwaves way of saying sorry and letting her shine, along with fellow talent Bill Patrick. Either way, we're happy that it happened.