Skrillex: A Night in Photos
I go to a lot of shows. I listen to a lot of music. I write. I take pictures. Y'know, that kind of stuff.
Montreal has been a go to city for a lot of the biggest electronic music acts lately. In the span of two weeks, we had Wolfgang Gartner, Steve Aoki, Steve Angello, Thomas Gold, Deadmau5 and most recently – Skrillex. I used to know Skrillex better as Sonny Moore of From First to Last. After being the vocalist for the post-harcore band for a number of years and releasing a solo album after his departure, he decided to venture into the world of electronic music, with the dubstep genre heavily accorded to his releases.
The resale ticket prices for this show were being hiked to as much as quadruple their value, and Metropolis was packed by the time the opening act was halfway through their set. And when Skrillex hit the stage? Forget it. I’ve probably said this before, but the energy in the building was insane. From the front to the back, people were headbanging, dancing, two-stepping, and even moshing.
The producer’s stage setup is truly massive, and pictures don’t do it justice. It’s a spectacle of projections displayed across a polygon castle of sorts, along with Skrillex being hooked up to a motion sensing suit. Those movements are digitized into a caricature (sometimes a robot/Transformer and sometimes an alien lifeform) projected behind him. I was sober and was enthralled – so I don’t even know what the people in altered states around me were experiencing.
In addition, take the visuals on stage, and then add the music that was pounding from the front. Skrillex is a very drop-centric dubstep machine, but I found that it wasn’t all about the bass drops. He would shut off the music at points, and have people singing along to his take on Benny Benassi’s “Cinema.” And he wouldn’t come back from that silence with the bass.
Transitioning from song to song, one more electrifying than the next, Moore has an impressive knack for knowing what his audience likes. While I was hanging around the venue, an older man was talking to me about the show. A little something of what he said stuck with me that night: “This isn’t really dance music – I mean, it is, and I guess it’s a new generation and this is what it may be transitioning into. But it’s got this hardcore, almost rock, influence behind it. And I’ve been to a lot of shows, back in the day when raves were held in warehouses. What happened tonight in there… that was something special.” The tour is basically sold out across the board, but if you can find yourself a ticket – go.
Many thanks to Chris at Biz3 publicity for hooking me up, and Neon+Highfood for hosting a marvelous show.
No Setlist – it’s all over the place and not worth listing. Whatever song you like by Skrillex, he played it at some point.
Full Set of Pictures: jakemullan’s flickr
Tags: jake mullan, skrillex, skrillex photographs, Skrillex: A Night in Photos
