Two years ago, his Planet Groove set was perhaps a little too introspective for a crowd that was more intent on dancing in the early hours of Saturday morning than trying to work out the hidden meaning behind his skittery half-beats. By the time he flicked the switch and upped the tempo 30 minutes into his set, the dance floor had thinned considerably and many had already headed home.

He started off in a similarly lethargic fashion this year, letting things stew over for a minute or two while the crowd swayed before him waiting for something to happen.

But unlike 2011, he got down to business much faster, and once he got the party into gear he played hard and didn’t let up. And then after 20 minutes or so, he played even harder.

He regularly teased the crowd with glimpses of each sample he was going to throw into each drop and, once completed, he made sure nothing was held back.

Not surprisingly, he threw some material from The xx into the mix towards the end of his set — almost a given considering he’d only finished performing with his fellow bandmates on the White Stage two hours earlier. The crowd certainly appreciated it.

Church organs and soul vocals also made appearances, as did three brand new varieties of bass that I have never experienced before: bongo bass, subwoofer bass and dead bass. If you think about the bass elements of each item mentioned, you should be able to get an understanding of what I am talking about.

By the end of his one-hour set, the crowd couldn’t have been happier. One woman in the audience gave him the thumbs up, while another said he was the best electronic act she’d seen at Fuji Rock so far. A man dressed in black leathers brandishing a massive punk Mohawk even got up on a friend’s shoulders and started thrashing about violently. Even the unconverted had been converted.

Earlier this year, Philadelphia music producer Baauer found himself on top of the American Billboard “Hot 100” chart with a song called “Harlem Shake.” That track – hyperactive synth, aggressive beat, sampled lion roars – reached the number-one space because of an Internet meme using the song. Here’s the Spark’s Notes version – “Harlem Shake” videos start out with one person solitarily dancing silly among a room full of serious people for 15 seconds. Then the song explodes, and EVERYONE is doing something wacky. This formula spawned countless YouTube videos…many receiving, like, millions of views…and helped propel Baauer to chart fame.

So of course he had to play “Harlem Shake,” even if he introduced it late into his set and only played about 20 seconds of it total, as if he was doing it out of duty to us, the people who wouldn’t even know who Baauer was if it weren’t for that track. Yet as much as he didn’t want it to be, “Harlem Shake” was the highlight of his set. Before he finally got to it, he mostly played hard-hitting remixes of popular hip-hop songs from the past 15 years, ranging from Kanye West to UGK to Outkast…well, actually, he just played that Georgia duo’s “B.O.B.” without any editing, which was also a high point, though mostly because it was Outkast. People in the Red Marquee enjoyed it…but they popped loudest for “Harlem Shake.”

Rock was especially prominent on Sunday evening, as Ego-Wrappin’ was joined on stage by members from the Gossip of Jaxx and managed to pack out the Red Marquee in no short time. It’s unusual at this time of the day for deck chairs to be folded and put away in the Red Marquee before the die-hard dance fans take over, but Sunday night was literally standing room only. Although I was beginning to fade after traipsing around the festival site for three days, most fans looked ready for one last hurrah before the festival closed for the year. Ego-Wrappin’s energetic Red Marquee performance was an appropriate sendoff.

I was surprised to find the Red Marquee full, at least up front where hardcore fans of the band had obviously been waiting well before the band were scheduled to start. The band’s longevity had helped them develop a strong base in Japan, albeit a quiet and rather shy crowd which may have something to do with their music.

Tahiti 80 have often been described as “pop” or “surf pop” and these distinctions wouldn’t be far from the truth as the band harked back to what they describe as the golden age of music which they attribute to  the 60′s or the 70′s, a time when music wasn’t  cynical and artificial. In today’s set one can easily pick out the references to the Beatles and the Beach Boys.

The band also sing in English instead of French because they believe that rock and roll simply sounds better in English. They also speak to the audience in English, today introducing a new tune from their EP, which was being played for the very first time.

Xavier Boyer was in full ebullient mood today, the lights from an overhead disco ball lighting up his face. He was ably supported by Médéric Gontier and  Sylvain Marchand on drums,  as well as keyboard support by Pedro Resende and Raphaël Léger.

In the end, Boyer asked if the crowd wanted one more song or two more songs, naturally, they gave the crowd what they wanted as the show continued into the night.