Back again. Hope everyone had an amazing weekend.
The premise of this latest in the Rocktober series is simple: deadmau5 was playing. I was close enough to go see him. After being one of the lucky witnesses of "the Cube" debut at his Coachella 2010 set, there really wasn't much to consider in throwing down a nominal fee for a Megabus ticket and heading out for another epic night at the Congress Theater.
The premise of this latest in the Rocktober series is simple: deadmau5 was playing. I was close enough to go see him. After being one of the lucky witnesses of "the Cube" debut at his Coachella 2010 set, there really wasn't much to consider in throwing down a nominal fee for a Megabus ticket and heading out for another epic night at the Congress Theater.
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^ mau5chella |
What became apparent to me when I arrived at the show was this: deadmau5 is one of electronic music's true superstars. While it is nearly impossible for anyone to reach the fabled Daft Punk hype level and production value, deadmau5 comes pretty damn close. The wide appeal of Joel Zimmerman's brand of hau5 music was evident at the mixture of people who showed up: everyone from high school girls wearing the neon bare-minimum to 40-something former ravers still wanting a piece of the action. It was the first sold-out show at the Congress I've ever attended, and only some pics/vids can do justice to how crazy this place really was.
MOAR REVIEWS N STUFF AFTER TEH JUMP
(All 10/23 Congress photos copyright of Drew Ressler from rukes.com. Deadmau5 commissioned this guy to document basically the entire leg of this current tour, and all of his concert images are worth checking out, they're all top-notch shots)
The amped tone was set for the night by Skrillex, a rising electronic star out of LA who produces songs in the general realm of electro house/electronica and dubstep. Deadmau5 has dropped his tracks a few times, most notably "My Name Is Skrillex" during his Ustream live set in September. The mau5 joined Skrillex on stage at the end of his set, and was wearing the ghost sheet from the Ghosts N Stuff music video.
Skrillex proceeded to end his dubstep-laden set on a high note with this version of Ghosts N Stuff (starting around the 3:30 mark).
^^^^Here's "WEEKENDS!!!" - one of my favorite beats from a producer to definitely keep an eye on.
Booka Shade, an old-school German act, played after Skrillex, and kept the energy high with their live house sound that incorporated live drums, synths, and vocoded vocals.
In the mean time, all I could think about was the Cube laying dormant behind the drum kit, waiting to be unleashed. One guy standing next to Charlie was convinced the Cube was not in attendance, and that it was "shipped to another city." This video of the intro begs to differ. (Note: first snippet before "Some Chords" is a new one entitled "Industrial Strength Sleeping Pills" - the Nine Inch Nails influence really bleeds through)
From the moment the mau5 started to glow, he didn't take his foot off the gas pedal, throwing down banger after banger and showcasing a lot of new, unreleased tracks. One of the reasons I love seeing deadmau5 is the pure showmanship and hard work that goes into every set: each sample is more or less mixed in and cut up live so even the most familiar tracks take on new life in the live setting, especially when coupled with the best light show on the road.
I'll let the pictures and videos do the talking for the rest of the night, aside from a few notes:
- deadmau5 played dubstep - and it was badass! New track "Raise Your Weapon" may have become the designated closing song, with an epic trancey house buildup culminating in a massive drop. Take a listen. >>>
- There were two separate encores. Chicago loves this guy.
- When it came time to drop "Ghosts N Stuff" (the anthem of the night), he donned the sheet and ran around the stage
Choosing a favorite song of the night is nearly impossible since the energy blew threw the roof so many times. So I will attempt to do these chronologically:
"SOFI Needs a Ladder" / "Cthulu Sleeps"
"Reward Is More Cheese" / "Bad Selection"
"Moar Ghosts N Stuff" / "Ghosts N Stuff"
"Sometimes Things Get, Whatever"
"Strobe"
Some more cool shots:
Setlist
1. Industrial Strength Sleeping Pills* [Intro]
2. Some Chords
3. Sofi Needs A Ladder
4. Cthulu Sleeps*
5. The Reward Is More Cheese
6. Bad Selection*
7. Moar Ghosts N Stuff
8. Ghosts N Stuff
9. Sometimes Things Get, Whatever (Alternate Version)*
10. Sometimes Things Get, Whatever (Original Mix)
11. I Remember
12. FML
13. I Said
14. Strobe
15. Moonlight Sanata esque* [Fan Name]
16. Not Exactly + GITS - Making Of Cyborg Acapella*
17. Arguru (Personal Favorite) >
First Encore:
18. Raise Your Weapon*
19. One Trick Pony* 20. Unknown* [Some sort of mellow lullaby type track] (This was a buzzkill of sorts)
Second Encore:
21. Dub5tepthingie* [Working Title]
(*Unreleased)
2. Some Chords
3. Sofi Needs A Ladder
4. Cthulu Sleeps*
5. The Reward Is More Cheese
6. Bad Selection*
7. Moar Ghosts N Stuff
8. Ghosts N Stuff
9. Sometimes Things Get, Whatever (Alternate Version)*
10. Sometimes Things Get, Whatever (Original Mix)
11. I Remember
12. FML
13. I Said
14. Strobe
15. Moonlight Sanata esque* [Fan Name]
16. Not Exactly + GITS - Making Of Cyborg Acapella*
17. Arguru (Personal Favorite) >
First Encore:
18. Raise Your Weapon*
19. One Trick Pony* 20. Unknown* [Some sort of mellow lullaby type track] (This was a buzzkill of sorts)
Second Encore:
21. Dub5tepthingie* [Working Title]
(*Unreleased)
Overall, the mau5 proved once again why he is one of the shining lights (lightcubes? meh) in electronic music. Stay tuned for his next album, titled "4 x 4 = 12" and set to drop December 7th.
Rocktober Part 4 this weekend with My Morning Jacket.
Thanks for reading patiently. Jabroni.
