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(Photo essay by Aaron Lavinsky)
These words are being typed with dark circles under tired eyes and a hoarse voice. Despite the lack of sleep and inevitable crash twelve hours from now, the only word that comes to mind, the only word on the tip of tongue that could even begin to describe the Skrillex show on Thursday night in Scottsdale, is energy.From around 8 p.m. until about 2:30 in the morning, electro/dubstep/house act Skrillex, along with guests ZEDD, Porter Robinson and Innerparty System made the walls shake at The Venue in Scottsdale.
I was 15 the last time that I saw Sonny Moore (Skrillex) on stage; he was the front man in the popular screamo act, From First To Last, passing through Cleveland on the Epitaph (Records) Tour with Motion City Soundtrack. (After Thursday’s show, Sonny laughed and said that by total coincidence, the bus driver from the Epitaph Tour was behind the wheel of his current bus.)
Flash forward almost seven years later and he still has that charisma and charm and a seemingly inherent ability to captivate an audience. Both his music and presence on stage speak to the effect that he is a true performer; foregoing the anonymous Internet DJ status and really becoming a producer of sorts.
The opening acts all paid tribute to the headliner, performing some of their own remixes to his songs alongside their original work. From progressive house or trance-esque electro to straight up dubstep, everyone on the bill proved capable of mixing different styles within the genre.
As I said before, the entire night, like the music itself, was a wave of energy. As soon as one set was done, there was no lag time; ZEDD would finish then boom—a quick light change and five minutes later, out walks Sonny. To get a feeling for it and to give these words some weight, search YouTube for Skrillex’s “Rock n Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain) video. It basically documents the non-stop tour that he has been on for the past year and should provide some insight into this “energy” that I keep talking about.
The biggest similarity that I can draw between this Skrillex show and seeing Sonny in his FFTL days is the crowd. The music is different, years have passed, but the faces in the audience almost look the same. Dubstep is taking hold of the youth culture and the scene is only getting bigger. Thursday’s show was completely sold out and according to “The Road Hog” aka Robert, Sonny’s tour manager and best friend; they’ve been selling out most of the other stops as well.
As the night came to an end, Sonny held a moment of silence for Ryan Dunn of “Jackass,” who was recently killed in a car accident. He obliged the masses their request for an encore and finished the set with his most popular hit, “Cinema,” a remix of the Benny Benassi jam while Road Hog showered the crowd in confetti.
The kids poured out of the venue, and the buses went west to Pomona, CA.
Reach the reporter at Bkarris@asu.edu
