Rita Ora Honors Avicii With One-Minute Silence, ‘Lonely Together’ Performance at Netherlands Festival (VIDEO)
Rita Ora paid homage to her late friend and "Lonely Together" collaborator, Avicii, with a special show and moment of silence for the EDM star who passed last week.
While in the Netherlands for her 538Koningsdag Festival appearance on Friday night (April 27), the British songbird fought to hold back her tears as she paused her set to tribute the departed DJ with a one-minute silence before performing the track they created together.
"I'm going to say something which is really, really special because it's going to be hard for me to sing this next song and I'll tell you why," the 27-year-old star led her speech. "I had the honor of collaborating with somebody who changed my life and he's a really good friend of mine and I heard some DJ's playing some of his music earlier."
"I haven't sung his song that we did together, ever since he passed away, until today. So it's going to be very hard for me to sing this next song," Ora ended, leading a crowd of approximately 40,000 in a minute's silence in Avicii's honor before beginning her set.
On April 20, 2018, the Swedish hitmaker, born Tim Bergling though remembered by his stage name, Avicii, was found dead in Muscat, Oman, from an apparent suicide.
The news of Avicii's departure arrives two years after the musician stated his early retirement from performing and traveling to concentrate on his health and wellbeing. It had been implied by Avicii's friends and family that the electronic star had suffered health complications and reportedly battled alcoholism in recent years. He was only 28.
Watch Rita Ora's moving tribute above.