Jauz performs at Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival on July 30, 2016. (23FIFTN)

Bass house pioneer Jauz took to Facebook on Monday to weigh in on the debate about pre-planned DJ sets. The post was inspired by his recent performance at Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival, which he freestyled from start to finish.

Jauz didn’t plan on performing on the fly, though. In fact, the 21-year-old DJ/producer said he spent two days putting together “the most epic set” he could think of. However, just 10 minutes before he hit the stage, Jauz realized that he had forgotten to transfer the songs to his USB drives. He was left with no choice but to improvise his entire performance.

“My heart dropped 100 feet out of my chest to the floor. My brain started racing, having no idea where to go or even what song to start with. I scrambled through my sticks as [Marshmello] finished his set and found the track I was going to start my [Lollapalooza] set with, and said to myself, ‘well, I guess you’ll have to wing it… in front of 30,000 people… here we go.'”

Thankfully, Jauz was able to avert disaster.

“In the end the set was incredible, as always the energy in Chicago was through the roof and helped me flow through the set even though I didn’t even have a second to think because I was scrolling so fast thru the 500 tracks on my USB figuring out what to play next.”

But maybe more importantly, he learned a valuable lesson from the experience.

“The moral of this story, is that just because someone ‘plans’ out their set doesn’t mean they can’t DJ on the fly, open format, ETC. Most of the time even if I have a ‘planned out’ set I’ll go off-track from it, but especially when we only have 60 minutes to fit in every single awesome track we want to play having a plan of action beforehand can be invaluable. On the other side though, one of the most rewarding feelings can be having absolutely no idea where you’re going with a set and letting the crowd guide you through it.”

Though Jauz made the case for improvisation, he concluded by defending DJs who pre-plan every aspect of their sets.

“The REAL point here is NEITHER ONE IS WRONG!! Whether someone has meticulously calculated their set list or is playing a completely unplanned set, at the end of the day we’re here to entertain you, the fans. I don’t care about proving anyone thinking I’m a good DJ, mixer, whatever, ALL I care about is making sure every single kid in the crowd has an awesome time. So, next time you’re arguing with your friends about ‘real DJ’ing,’ take this into consideration.”

Read Jauz’s full post and watch a recap of his performance below.

Related: Watch the Video for Skrillex and Jauz’s ‘Squad Out!’