Last Tuesday marked the second stop for Dead Mau5 and his recently launched Meowingtons Hax Tour when he brought the show to Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, CO.
Over the past few years Joel Zimmerman aka Dead Mau5 has experienced a meteoric rise to fame that has seen him regularly ranking in the Top 10 of the Annual DJ Mag poll and selling out tours all over the globe. But Dead Mau5′s reach goes far beyond the traditional dance music community, as he is one of the first electronic dj/producers to strike a chord with fans from all genres of popular music in the US. This mass appeal was very apparent in the crowd on Tuesday night as droves of people of all ages and walks of life, came together Mau5 ears and all, to catch a first hand glimpse of this enigmatic star.
The night started off hard with an opening set by Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee and DJ Aero with their self described “dirty, filthy, nasty electro-house”. To be perfectly honest it did not even register that this was ‘the Tommy Lee’ until his face was projected on the large screens next to the stage. Never in a million years did I expect to see him in this capacity but I have to admit it was the best opening set of the night. Lee and Aero played with energy and enthusiasm jumping around wildly to their simplistic but hard electro sound and really built the crowds energy for so early in the night. Their new releases ‘Static’ and ‘LFO Tool’ were ok but the highlights of the set came when they were playing other peoples material.
A British Colombia based DJ by the name of Excision followed Lee and Aero with a very bland array of dubstep and hip hop that left me very unimpressed. He played a mix of mass market tunes combined with some poor mixing and a very random straight play of Dr. Dre’s ‘The Next Episode’. Overall it was one of the worst sets I have seen at Red Rocks this summer, but much to my surprise the crowd responded very well to his whole performance. I personally think that the very young and uneducated EDM crowd contributed to this as they were just happy to hear so many of the summers most ‘popular’ tracks like Benny Benassi – Cinema (Skrillex Remix).
When Excision wrapped up it was time for the Mau5, and the stage crew frantically prepared the custom 3D cube DJ booth as the excitement grew in the crowd. Suddenly the trademark ears appeared through the smoke and Joel kicked things off quickly with a remix of the classic “The Reward is Cheese”. The unmistakable and heavily synthed electro sounds burst though the soundsystem and the party was on, for a little while.
After playing some of his classic earlier material he began mixing in some of the crossover tracks from his recent 4 x 4 = 12 album and his performance lost all continuity from my perspective. After a couple very generic dubstep tracks and live performances by hip hop artist Sofi Toufa I had almost lost all interest. It became clear the whole DJ performance was pre-programmed long before he took the stage and the show was nothing more than a mass market money generating machine. Im not saying him making money is bad but placing emphasis there has drastically reduced the quality of the show, the music and the quality of fans.
Despite the lackluster and generic performance Joel still managed to pull me back from time to time with some of his epic productions like ‘Ghosts N Stuff’, ‘Arguru’, ‘Raise Your Weapon’ and ‘Animal Rights’.
The incredibly unique custom lighting certainly helped maintain my attention through the many bland low points with the 3D cubic installations lighting up with a variety of visuals that included dancing dead mice and screen shots of one of Joel’s favorite games, Minecraft. Joel’s LED Mau5 head even joined along with the crowd in singing a few choruses while the rest of the lights danced in unison to every beat.
After an emergency piss break Joel came out for a two track finale and ended the night with a full play of the gorgeous track ‘Strobe’. It definitely is not at its best when played live due to the very low tempo melodic feel but very few electronic tracks in recent memory can compete with its musical beauty. All in all it was a mediocre night from my perspective and paled in comparison to performances I saw years ago in NYC and MTL.
Money has become the driving force behind his performances and productions, and the number of quality tracks on each album seems to be fewer with each new release. His talent for production is truly staggaring but he has taken many steps away from what made him so great in the first place as a means of reaching the masses. Im sure many would disagree with me and call it progression, but my take on the situation is not so favorable.
As a EDM lover I want the one of a kind raw electro sound back without all of the frills and add ons from other genres. The real future of his music remains to be seen but no matter the direction he takes, one cannot deny the indelible mark he has left on the electronic music scene already, and I am sure he still has a great deal of fantastic music floating around in that Mau5 head of his.
Lets just hope he takes it back to the old school…
PICS
VIDEO
- D -
- SHARING IS SEXY
Recommend on Facebook-
-
- Tweet about it
