Deadmau5 At The Palladium
I encountered the paramedics on my way out. They were about to lift a twentysomething man onto a stretcher.
Yes, electronic music fans are on drugs. But so were their parents. And people die at Bonnaroo, read Pasquale Rotella’s piece in the L.A. "Times" linked below, he delineates the issue well. But people clamp down on what they cannot understand.
Concerts are supposed to be old guys overcharging for an audience that can barely stand or teens and twentysomethings overexposed in the media, hoofing to a recorded beat for screaming little girls.
Most people have no idea who Deadmau5 is.
But he just did four nights at the Palladium. And somehow his fans got the message.
You should go to one of these shows. It’s not that different from the gigs you went to as a kid. It’s about the experience, feeling something. You had to be there.
Most shows are akin to the crappy films Hollywood opens every weekend. But this is different.
You have to go primarily for the special effects. The lights. The screens. And Deadmau5’s mouse helmet. Which at times lights up and flashes like the Goodyear blimp.
These shows are not for wimps. Don’t expect your parents to pick you up when it’s over. Deadmau5 didn’t go on until midnight. As if to say we’re playing by nobody’s rules but our own.
And the beat is constant and you feel the thump in your gut. And you watch the sea of humanity go up and down with mouse ears pinned atop their heads. You get the feeling you’re where it’s happening. And that’s so rare in this overhyped entertainment world where acts have the shelf life of a Big Mac and are just about as fulfilling.
Tickets were fifty bucks. Deadmau5 insisted they be no higher.
There were no presales. This audience doesn’t have AmEx cards.
It’s about building for the long haul. Even though Live Nation ended up with almost forty percent of the take. You can argue all day long with those behind the scenes, but it’s about the fans. If tickets are cheap people will come. And come again, if you’re good.
Just like punk, electronic music is burgeoning in the U.S. long after its advent, long after it was underground and almost flamed out.
It’s been happening forever in Europe and the U.K. But it’s finally getting traction here today.
You can tell your classmates you went to see Rihanna. Or Taylor Swift. Or even Justin Bieber. You’ll feel a member of the group, cool for a day. But if you want to be cool for the rest of the school year, tell them you went to see Deadmau5.
This sound ain’t gonna evaporate tomorrow. It’s ascending and taking its place in the firmament now.
It’s everything the rock and pop shows are not. It’s not about looking so much as feeling. You know, that light inside that makes you feel alive.
You missed it.
