SKRILLEX GREY DAZE TOUR REVIEW BY MR DIRTY SMART...
22 February 2012
Last night I had the pleasure of heading down to the Manchester Apollo and checking out the Skrillex Grey Daze.
Apprehensions –
After Skrilly winning a hat trick at the Grammys (www.dirtysmart.com/clubbingnews/skrillex-grammy-winner-2012), and his explosion onto the mainstream airwaves of radio stations across the globe, would his sound be diluted to appease the general public?
This was a 14+ event... Would I be able to grab a beer or just have to endure kids fingering each other on the dancefloor all night?
I rocked up at 7 as not to miss any of the show.
DC producer Alvin Risk was on warm up. Alvin is a cat I am familiar with due to some of his remixes (Kaskade – Eyes, Steve Aoki – Earthquakey People, Example – Stay Awake e.t.c), however I’ve never seen him live or even heard him in the mix.
He blew the place to pieces. I was in complete awe of his skills. The crowd’s reaction was ridiculous. Lots of jumping around & hands in the air. Surreal as it was 7.30 pm!
By 8.30 the place was full, and Alvin wrapped up his outstanding set to a rapture of applause.
SebastiAn rocked up. Fag in hand, reminding me I hadn’t had a cigarette in 2 hours...
I was excited to see SebastiAn; I suppose his Ed Banger status made him a bit of a legend in my eyes.
Unfortunately he didn’t live up to the hype. Not even close.
He took a tough electro direction for the first hour that no one liked. People literally just stopped moving. His transitions were shite, his tune selection was shite & his presence was shite.
I went for a cigarette, followed by a piss, followed by another cigarette.
For the last 5 mins of his set he dropped some cool techno, however I was the only person dancing.
He finished at 9.15 & some mellow Bob Marley started playing in the background as the production staff sorted stuff out for Skrilly. The crowd DEFO enjoyed the interval music more than SebastiAn...
9.30 ish Skrillex started, dropping 'Breakn' A Sweat' as his opener. Everything about the next hour and a half was awesome. Tunage wise he was spot on. Obvs he played the entire Bangarang EP, but also tracks from Foreign Beggars, Koan Sound & Knife party. The ‘Skrillex Cell’ was amazing. All sort of crazy projections, kinda like when deadmau5 played for the Nokia launch in London (http://youtu.be/qZ46RV_ZNeg). He also had motion sensors all over his body, moving a projection of a massive skeleton behind him... It was insane!
The crowd was mental. Average age probs 16, but they knew how to rave hard!
After the gig I was reflecting on a few things...
The incredible Alvin Risk.
The terrible SebastiAn.
Does Skrillex’s cell rival deadmau5’s cube?
The crowd, average age of 16, were rockin' out to really hard dubstep, taking all sorts of drugs, on a Tuesday night...
... I'm still reflecting
Apprehensions –
After Skrilly winning a hat trick at the Grammys (www.dirtysmart.com/clubbingnews/skrillex-grammy-winner-2012), and his explosion onto the mainstream airwaves of radio stations across the globe, would his sound be diluted to appease the general public?
This was a 14+ event... Would I be able to grab a beer or just have to endure kids fingering each other on the dancefloor all night?
I rocked up at 7 as not to miss any of the show.
DC producer Alvin Risk was on warm up. Alvin is a cat I am familiar with due to some of his remixes (Kaskade – Eyes, Steve Aoki – Earthquakey People, Example – Stay Awake e.t.c), however I’ve never seen him live or even heard him in the mix.
He blew the place to pieces. I was in complete awe of his skills. The crowd’s reaction was ridiculous. Lots of jumping around & hands in the air. Surreal as it was 7.30 pm!
By 8.30 the place was full, and Alvin wrapped up his outstanding set to a rapture of applause.
SebastiAn rocked up. Fag in hand, reminding me I hadn’t had a cigarette in 2 hours...
I was excited to see SebastiAn; I suppose his Ed Banger status made him a bit of a legend in my eyes.
Unfortunately he didn’t live up to the hype. Not even close.
He took a tough electro direction for the first hour that no one liked. People literally just stopped moving. His transitions were shite, his tune selection was shite & his presence was shite.
I went for a cigarette, followed by a piss, followed by another cigarette.
For the last 5 mins of his set he dropped some cool techno, however I was the only person dancing.
He finished at 9.15 & some mellow Bob Marley started playing in the background as the production staff sorted stuff out for Skrilly. The crowd DEFO enjoyed the interval music more than SebastiAn...
9.30 ish Skrillex started, dropping 'Breakn' A Sweat' as his opener. Everything about the next hour and a half was awesome. Tunage wise he was spot on. Obvs he played the entire Bangarang EP, but also tracks from Foreign Beggars, Koan Sound & Knife party. The ‘Skrillex Cell’ was amazing. All sort of crazy projections, kinda like when deadmau5 played for the Nokia launch in London (http://youtu.be/qZ46RV_ZNeg). He also had motion sensors all over his body, moving a projection of a massive skeleton behind him... It was insane!
The crowd was mental. Average age probs 16, but they knew how to rave hard!
After the gig I was reflecting on a few things...
The incredible Alvin Risk.
The terrible SebastiAn.
Does Skrillex’s cell rival deadmau5’s cube?
The crowd, average age of 16, were rockin' out to really hard dubstep, taking all sorts of drugs, on a Tuesday night...
... I'm still reflecting
Copyright 2012 DirtySmart Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
