Hello, Los Angeles, today is a very special day. You and me are part of history now. This is the day that we’ll all remember that dance music is bigger than anything else in the world, I thank you for that! So let’s celebrate and party.
When Tiesto speaks everyone listens. His show at the Home Depot Center on October 8th proved why he sets the standard in EDM music and why he will continue to be at the forefront of what can only be called a musical revolution.
Okay. So. Maybe I’m getting a little too intense, but Tiesto’s show was nothing short of spiritual. I’ve seen nearly every DJ under the sun to this date (in every type of venue/show possible too) and the only thing that can compare to the final installation of Tiesto’s College Invasion Tour is Swedish House Mafia in Miami, but even then it’s not a direct comparison. Everyone at the Home Depot Center was there to fucking dance. Everyone was there for the music. Nobody was there for the ‘scene’. There was a palpable energy around the arena that you could feel almost instantly and it made for a completely unforgettable experience.
Tiesto is, hands down, the most legit and reputable DJ in the game right now. Nobody can deny that. He could have filled his two hour set with Tiesto exclusive tracks—but he didn’t—which just shows how much he really understands what’s going on in music right now. He mixed dub-step and moombah, Kanye West with Oasis and dropped obscure tracks by up-and-coming DJs like Tommy Trash and Alesso. When he played “Feel It In My Bones” I literally thought my heart stopped and he ended the night perfectly with “Maximal Crazy.”
The cracked out ravers tried to start a chant of “Two More Hours” after the last beat of “Maximal Crazy” but the show ended perfectly and nothing else would have even compared. I may have doubted Tiesto’s relevance (and legitimacy) before but after last Saturday I’ll never question it again. It’s officially Tiesto’s world. We’re just living in it.
Whether you like dubstep or techno, whatever your entry point, at some point someone is going to say, ‘Have you seen Tiësto?’
-Billboard Magazine
It’s true. Even EDM neophytes are aware of Tiesto. He’s essentially a deity in the electronic community, his presence is so much greater than himself as an individual.
I’ve been lucky enough to see Tiesto three times in the past year (the only year I’ve been exposed to any type of EDM music. Also known as the best year ever) but saying I’m excited about his College Invasion show at the Home Depot Center tomorrow is an understatement. First of all the lineup is crazy, if Tiesto wasn’t enough Dada Life and Diplo have been thrown into the mix, and he’s planning to set a record for the largest single DJ event in US history.
I hate to say it so obviously. But shit’s about to get maximal crazy.
I was pumped to find out Calvin Harris was coming to NYC. His set at Masquerade Motel literally blew my mind and when he tweeted he was coming to New York I was sold. No questions asked.
When I found out he was coming to Pacha I changed my mind—-but then he decided to come to Lavo, aka Narnia on earth, and I was back on board.
So. Let’s talk about his set. First Calvies gets major points for actually hanging out in the crowd while Treasure Fingers was opening up. I didn’t even realize I was dance battleing him for a bit and then I put two and two together and figured the extremely tall British man was actually the DJ in question. If only he was sporting fly eyes.
His set was your standard Calvin Harris set. All bangers all the time. He mixed in some of his classics like “I’m Not Alone,” “You Used to Hold Me” and “Ready For The Weekend.” I literally got tingles when he started playing “Awooga” (awooga will always have a special place in my heart though) and he got the crowd bouncing with “Bounce.” In typical Calvin Harris fashion he mixed in some crowd favorites like “Dirty Talk” and “Barbara Streisand.” All in all a great house set.
Maybe it was because I wasn’t dancing in the sand, maybe it’s because it wasn’t Miami or maybe it’s because it was Cinco De Mayo and I was sincerely hoping he’d be wearing a bedazzled sombrero but his set was kind of a let down. There wasn’t as much energy, people didn’t seem as into it and I’m not sure if anyone could actually recognize the music but I’m starting to expect that with the NYC house crowd.
I said it. I like him better than ikea, socialism and definitely more than Swedish fish. Those are waxy and synthetic. Axwell is anything but.
There’s a reason why my best friend has Swedish House Mafia listed as her religion on facebook. Axwell’s show at the Roseland was as close to a spiritual experience as I’ll probably ever get. But before I can even get into the show I have to talk about the venue.
Because it’s gross.
I get that the Roseland Ballroom in NYC is probably one of the best places for DJs to do shows in NYC. It’s not as cheesy as Pacha, not as exclusive as Lavo and the open space gives you the feel of a massive without actually being outdoors for 7 hours straight. Deadmau5, Steve Angello and and Armin Van Buren all choose the Roseland when they want to put on major shows in the city and since they can get away with intense pyrotechnics and crazy light shows I don’t blame them…I just wish it didn’t feel like a seedy broadway theater and have awful rose carpeting. The place was packed with under and over grown ravers too…if I didn’t have stage access I would have been in the worst mood ever when he was spinning.
Anyway. Axwell blew my mind. He introduced his set with a teaser of “Miami to Ibiza” and then remixed Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep”—just like SHM did in Miami. You could hear the crowd give a collective “oooooh” when he started to drop “Awooga” (since anyone who wasn’t in Miami or at Coachella had probably never heard it live before) and then he started experimenting with his set. For a solid 30 minutes Axwell—aka the king of instruments—was playing straight electro and killing it.
About halfway through his 4 hour set he got super Swedish on the mic and started saying “MY NAME IS AXWELL. I AM FROM THE SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA” and then led into SHM classics. “One”, “Nothing But Love”, “Teenage Crime” and “In the Air”. He even dropped some of my favorite pop mixes like “Otherside” and “Clocks” but my favorite parts of the set were definitely when he played the SHM remix of “The Island” and “Save The World”.
Saying Axwell put on an amazing show was an understatement. Then again I’m convinced the man can do no wrong.
As if Vegas couldn’t get any crazier, they are coming out with some insane line-ups for 3 day weekends. If you’re smart and know what’s up, you might as well buy tickets to Labor Day weekend in Vegas now and save yourself the trouble. They will probably be teleporting in DJs from Electric Zoo just to play some epic sets…
In this case, we have a ridiculous line-up at Marquee. Before I get into it, let me just throw out what else is going on:
Wet Republic has Tiesto and David Guetta gracing their pool party. Palms has The Love Festival with Paul Van Dyk, Marcus Schossow, Paul Oakenfold, Chromeo, and others. Club XS is featuring Afrojack, Deadmau5, and A-Trak.
So those are all good and great, but you know me, I’m a fanboy. And ever since I went to Marquee in February, my favoritism has seen no bounds.
As you can see in the poster above, I would definitely say that from an objective standpoint, Marquee has taken the line-up prize for Memorial Day in Vegas, individually. Of course, ballers like champagne king Don Johnson can afford to create a line-up of their own by just going to whatever club they want. But for those of us with a limit to the cash in our pocket (and our credit), we have to pick a place and stay there until they tell us to leave. And even then we must demand to get passes to a future event or else sue them for the slippery floor conditions. And that should, in my opinion, be done at Marquee.
Let’s start with Friday. You just got to Vegas. Maybe you flew. Maybe you drove. But you want to unwind. Here’s a meek suggestion – Roger Sanchez and Markus Schulz back to back. The kind of party, Miami house followed by the king of insane, dark, Miami trance. Having just seen Markus at Avalon, I can testify that you are in for a treat. The man has been getting consistently better for the past few years and is definitely at his peak right now. Case in point: last year saw him at Avalon and, while it was pretty crowded, the floor was fairly scant by the time we left at 4:30 AM. This time – we left at 4:15 AM and there was still a line to get to the main floor. Simply insane how popular Markus has gotten. He’s still the man and I still support him. He works hard and puts a lot of thought into his music – I wish him the best.
After that you’ve got a nice pool set by Above and Beyond, not bad, followed by Laidback Luke (who just recently had to clarify on Twitter that his first name is, in fact, not “Laid”) and ATB. That’s a nice little party package for a Saturday, but you should probably rest up. Sunday features a pool set by some dude Fatboy Slim and then an even lesser known but up-and-comer named Armin van Buuren. Holy crap. If the Cosmopolitan doesn’t burst at the seams that day, then something isn’t right with this world. What an insane line-up. The whole weekend rounds out with Chuckie and Robbie Rivera bringing some Dutch and Ibiza house sounds to the pool, and then LMFAO at night (probably a skipper, considering what you’ve just gone through over the past few days).
Absolutely amazing. Any Euro who thinks they’ve got it better just got a smelly, used sock stuffed in their mouth. That’s right. And they’re probably on a plane to Vegas anyway, because they “might as well check it out, even though (they’re) better”. Take that Euros! (Seriously, I <3 Europe, I’m just happy that I get to gloat about the U.S. for once).
Whatever you do Memorial Day weekend, wherever you go, whatever you see, have fun out there. I’ll be turning the big two four, so please twitter us @LABeatCo and let us know how you celebrated the weekend. In the meantime, let me end with a track as I always do. A little preview of EDC and what the Swedish House Mafia will bring to the table. Come back to LA soon, Axwell.
Good. Me too. So when I heard about One Step Beyond, the American Museum of Natural History’s monthly concert series, I was too hype for my own good. Dinosaurs and lasers! Blue lights and blue whales! The nerdy combinations could go on for years (I’ll spare you) and once I found out Dave 1 from Chromeo was the main act for the April show I was sold.
Sadly the show was in the Rose Center for Earth & Space, not the main entrance with the giant dinosaur, which still made for a completely unique setting—even though the sound wasn’t as great as it could have been. There were max 400 people there so the show was really intimate and fun plus Dave 1 was doing a great job at working and interacting with the crowd. Must run in the family.
In any case, Dave delivered a solid set of straight disco and dance…exactly what you expect from the hotter half of Chromeo. The funny thing is my favorite parts of the show were when he wasn’t even playing his own music. He dropped ‘Big Bad Wolf’ and ‘Heads Will Roll’ (brotherly love!) and Robyn’s ‘Indestructible’ and towered the end of the show we were all itching for ‘Barbara Streisand’ so when he played it the entire crowd went nuts. He gave the show the perfect ending with classic Chromeo, ‘Fancy Footwork’.
Dave even stuck around post show to hang with groupies and fans alike (you can decide which one I am)—and i even snagged a picture and an after party invite. At least this time I knew which Macklovitch brother i was talking to.
That’s right folks – it’s time for HARD Summer Festival. This year it will be August 6 in Downtown Los Angeles… with 6 stages. Insane how quickly this festival has grown and how many acts it’s got on the lineup. DuckSauce, Boyz Noize, Skrillex, and Ratatat should attract plenty of electro hipsters (which got denied from Urban Dictionary by the way, WTF?) and then dubstep crowd will be pleased to see both Nero and Caspa on the role sheet.
The venue is the LA State Historic Park, which, based on Rob’s previous experience, seems to be a fantastic place to have a festival. It’s also outdoors in the middle of an LA summer. So I guess the real question is – what exactly are you waiting for? Grab your tickets here.
Meanwhile, here’s my favorite Nero track… I’m sure you’ve heard this one before but it’s a goodie.
This is the day I spend 100 bucks to go to Juicy Beach. And only stayed for 20 minutes.
Day 1 of Miami madness actually completely wiped all of us out so we decided to take it easy for the day and go to Juicy Beach a little later than planned. The party started at noon and claimed to go until 5 AM so we figured going around 9/10 would be the perfect time to go and rage until the next day.
Yeah. We were wrong. Sometime around 4 we saw Robbie Rivera tweet that he was going on at 6 and seeing as I was half comatose on a lounge chair I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I stuck to my original plan of going around 10 (which was actually more like 11) but on my way there I somehow ended up in a can en route to LIV at The Fontainebleau for the Axwell show. Seeing as it was only 11 and there was no way he was going to go on before 2 AM we decided to actually go to Juicy Beach and come back for Axwell later.
By the time we got to Nikki Beach it was completely deserted…and seeing as the party was supposed to go on for another six hours it was kind of a letdown. We did, however, meet Robbie Rivera out front and talk to him for a bit. I was a little surprised at how old he was but he’s a legitimate human being so I’ll let it slide. We literally stayed at Nikki Beach for 15 minutes then decided to see what was going on on South Beach and that’s where our adventure began.
First of all every single bar and restaurant on the beach throws an insane party even if you’re just sitting at a table outside. One of the managers tried to convince us to go into his bar by promising us all free shots but I firmly said I wouldn’t step foot inside unless he gave me a giant plate of free french fries.
Then he did.
Even though we were literally just sitting at a table for a good two hours the music was blasting and there were people everywhere. We were toying with the idea of going back to LIV to see Axwell but then we got a text saying Calvin Harris was doing a set at the Gansevoort…so we jumped in the next cab there.
Surprisingly enough it was a million times easier to get into the club the day a legitimate DJ was spinning as opposed to someone so dated it made our skin crawl. We missed Calvin’s set by maybe 30 seconds but we saw him (minus his awesome sunglasses) hanging out with Burns while he DJd at the club.
So Burns doesn’t play your typical club set and definitely is no Calvin Harris who plays straight bangers for 3 hours at a time but his set was definitely fun. More beats, less bass. Definitely upbeat and dance-y without falling into the realm of expected techno/electro music and we were dancing until at least 4AM.
Even though our second night in Miami wasn’t what we had in mind AT ALL it was worth it and beyond amazing.
-Muss
MIAMI DAY 3.
the day the rave died.
So the rave didn’t actually die. My soul did though.
This would be the only day I ventured across the bridge for ULTRA. I was actually excited about this, Martin Solveig, Avicii, Pendulum, Tiesto…you get the idea. Even though the music was amazing the experience was nothing to write home about.
So I’m not going to.
In all seriousness I don’t actually recommend going to ULTRA to anyone venturing to Miami in March. Like I said in my first post it’s a good idea in theory but seeing as every club and pool party on South Beach features these exact same DJs during the week at way more exclusive parties the massive experience doesn’t compare at all.
Three hours (and many years off of my life) later we ventured over to the Ice Palace for the first 10 hours of Sunday School.
And it was a completely different experience.
The venue was great, two side-by-side rooms with completely different decors and feels and different types of music playing simultaneously. There was outdoor space for people who wanted to take a break from either the 10 or 24 hour party and school busses were set up to fit into the whole school house literally rocking theme.
The first room was set up like the coolest underground party that I had actually heard of. The music was straight minimal: bass and beats with no frills. We got there in time to see Barem finish up his set and then we caught Ambivalent and Richie Hawtin.
The next room over boysnoize records had taken over and turned the room into a straight party complete with lights and lasers. Tiga was spinning and completely destroying every single beat and even though I’d been partying since 7PM my feet were moving uncontrollably even though all I wanted to do was take a nap in one of the school busses.
Even though I only made it through five of the first ten hours of Sunday school—and couldn’t trek out for the last 24 hours (and missed P. Diddy partying with Luciano! Sad!)—Sunday School was definitely a great experience…one I recommend to anyone who’s into the music and not the scene. Everyone there was really there for the music, which was refreshing on so many levels especially since the 16 year olds at the Tiesto set at ULTRA were only looking for an excuse to do drugs and dress crazy.
Well folks, it’s that time of the year again… EDC is upon us. Sure, it’s been moved to Vegas, but I would still consider this the prime dance music festival anywhere on the west coast. The line-up is looking very Ultra-like, so I would expect greatness. I am furthermore expecting greatness due to the fact that the location and price of the tickets will hopefully weed out some of the, shall we say, shadier attendees of past events. My fingers are crossed.
For those of you looking to find out more about the lineup, keep reading.
As far as the lineup goes, not much has been released thus far. We know the following are not attending: Kaskade, David Guetta. We know the following have been confirmed via their agencies or myspace accounts (see the following link)… but that’s not much. Although enough for me – Sander van Doorn, Above and Beyond, Tiesto all on one night? Uhh okay. I guess I’ll show up… Hopefully more will be leaked as time goes on, but for now there are just little leaks here and there and unofficial announcements. That hasn’t stopped tickets from selling quickly – the first batches of Friday and Saturday tickets have already sold out for about 75 bucks apiece. Of course, if I’m going, I’m going all the way – gimme the 3 day pass! I’ll stick around for Afrojack, Ferry Corsten, Dada Life, and surely many more.
And rumored Daft Punk and/or Justice? That should get the electro-hipsters (urban dictionary definition pending) coming out the woodworks after recovering from Coachella.
As far as the location, it’s about 13 miles away from the strip. That’s, in my guess, about a 40 dollar cab ride allowing for traffic (of which there will surely be plenty). I would avoid staying on the strip, because it’s just not worth the money if you’re not going to be doing any gambling… and let’s be honest, you’re not going to have time or energy for that. Furthermore, knowing Vegas, Tiesto will be DJing using blackjack tables and there will be slot machines inside every port-a-potty. Furthermore, the event will have free parking for over 40,000 cars. So I would plan on staying at a Holiday Inn nearby, and using non-festival time to relax, not gamble your savings away at the Strip casinos. If you want a rational argument, there it is. But, of course, I don’t expect that most people are going to listen to me.
Anyway, that’s my quick update for now. More to come, surely, on this event. For now, get your tickets, and sit tight for more world-class talent to be added to the lineup. The west coast takes it over this June! See you all in the desert… oh and here’s a song to pump it up a bit.
I supposed I would be remiss if I didn’t do write a little somethin somethin for this one festival going down this weekend in the middle of the California desert. Y’know, the one that me and you and everyone we know look forward to 362 days out of the year, the one that sold out just a few weeks after tickets went on sale, the one that rhymes with “Umbrella”…yup, Coachella is this weekend! Right on schedule to ring in the warm season, jacking up the temperature 10 degrees or so as per usual. I’m all about brevity these days, so I’ll keep it short and to the point so you can start loading up on sunscreen and tank tops. Feel free to pop open the set times and follow along.
FRIDAY
The day I’m fondly referring to as “Rave Your Face Off” day is probably the day both of us are looking forward to the most. I’m not a big fan of the rock n rolla headliners like Kings of Leon, The Black Keys and Interpol, but in typically Coachella fashion, the nice folks at Goldenvoice have balanced things out with a monumental slew of electronic dance music that makes me wonder whether maybe they should’ve scheduled Friday bands for Saturday so people won’t completely blow their loads tomorrow. The Chemical Brothers are the creme dela creme, and are slated to grace the polo fields with their next level, electronic symphony to a massive headlining, main stage crowd chock full of Chemical faithful and unwitting KOL fans (who will probably need to reassess their lives a little bit after watching the Chems blow the Kings straight outta the water). The one loser in this situation is Boys Noize, the questionably chosen sacrificial lamb who will play against the Chems in the newly revamped Sahara tent. Don’t give me wrong, I love the Noize and was looking forward to a hopeful Chem Bros-Sasha-Boys Noize combination, but Alex is in LA on the regular, while a Tom & Ed Coachella headlining appearance is a supremely special event. I trust you’ll make the right decision. Another grating conflict is the one between dubstep super-trio Magnetic Man and the beat-boxing Beardyman. Magnetic Man’s cube stage show is getting them a load of attention (as well, of course, their unrivaled-in-quality dubstep sounds), but Beardyman’s absurd talent and creativity makes this a not-so-cut-and-dry decision. Maybe see half of each?
OFWGKTA (aka Odd Future), the relatively new-on-the-scene LA hip hop collective, is one of the big stories of festival. Originally slated to perform in the dome, Coachella head honcho Paul Tollett caught wind of the group’s massive hype and decided to sandwich them in the Sahara between Skrillex and A-Trak, a move I LOVE which will set the tone for the weekend. Don’t miss this epic coming out performance. Other acts I’m looking forward to include the evening, Mojave performance by Australian disco favorites Cut Copy, seminal prog house DJ Sasha, and the distinctly James Blake-ish Mount Kimbie.
SATURDAY
This where the genius of the Coachella masterminda really begins to show. What better way to balance out a day of face-melting electronic music than with a day of heart-melting indie and British rock? Other than a few solid nu-disco acts like The Twelves and Two Door Cinema Club and a couple choice dome performers like Mary Anne Hobbs and SBTRKT, Saturday is hardly conducive to a day of raving (unless, of course, you’d rather spend your Saturday at one of the most quality music festivals in the world seeing guys you can see at EDC/Avalon like Steve Angello, Fedde le Grand and Laidback Luke). Most of my day will be spent going back and forth between the main and the outdoor stages (with a brief sojourn to the Gobi to check out The Felice Brothers and Wire). Other than unquestionably epic live shows from ostentatious rockers like Arcade Fire, Empire of the Sun, and Animal Collective, and unquestionably mellow live shows by indie rock chillers Bright Eyes and Broken Social Scene, I’m rather looking forward to Big Audio Dynamite, the recently-reunited group lead by former Clash frontman Mick Jones. If you have any love for music history, check em out for a few minutes and see a living legend do his thing.
SUNDAY
Sunday has always been THE day for the best at Coachella. Last year’s effort had the goods with that amazing Gorillaz/Pavement/Thom Yorke/Orbital/Plastikman/Phoenix extravaganza, and this year’s Sunday installment of the festival, a cross-genre, mishmash of quality music from all over the globe and sonic spectrum, is little different. Kanye, of course, is the big daddy of the festival, and I’m sure he’ll be looking to supplant Daft Punk’s storied 06 performance as the most grandiose live showing the festival has ever seen. Recently re-united rockers Death From Above 1979 (led by MSTRKRFT’s Jesse F Keeler) and the angelic PJ Harvey are the other must sees for the day on the main two stages. Be sure not to neglect the Mojave and Sahara tents, however, because they’re straight up stacked. Danish electronic DJ/instrumentalist/overall musical genius Trentemøller is an absolute MUST for anybody interested in our lovely genre of music. His current live tour is getting rave (pun intended…) reviews, and you would be a fool for missing it. A FOOL, I say! Old school British electronica outfit Leftfield is set to rock the Mojave a few hours later, and while the conflicts will be tough (PJ Harvey, The Strokes, Bloody Beetroots), this is their first California performance in many, many years, so give em a little love, will ya?
The Sahara tent is looking mighty fine as well. Be sure to head over to the grounds early to check out the new and old sounds of house in Riva Starr and Green Velvet. Later on, German DJ and big papa of techno Sven Vath will be spinning a 2-hour vinyl set. I feel like I beat a dead horse when I tell you guys to check out these old fogies who never play in the U.S., but seriously, guys like Sven and Leftfield have been running shit since the early 90′s. They know what they’re doing, and won’t let you down. Promise! The biggest draw in the Sahara for the day is the Coachella debut of Duck Sauce. You’ll be hard pressed to find a hotter dance act than the A-Trak/Armand Van Helden disco collaboration that brought insta-classics like “Anyway” and “Barbara Streisand” into the world”. If you can only catch one dance act on Sunday, this is the one.
Advice? Drink lots of water water, get there early, leave late, and have a shitload of fun! And see the Chemical Brothers…yeah. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some last minute errands to run before I make the pilgrimage. Have fun yall!!!
Looking for content writers; write short reviews/articles about edm artists and get paid. Let me know if interested via the blog or a @reply04:30:52 PM January 10, 2012from HootSuite
