Music News

Review: deadmau5 at the Palladium, Los Angeles, Saturday August 27

By Kieran MacIntyre Aug 29, 2011, 16:26 GMT

Deadmau5 - © Robin Wong / PR Photos

Sensory overload.

I have seen deadmau5 several times at huge festivals and he never fails in delivering a good set, but last night’s performance at the sold-out show at the Hollywood Palladium was unlike anything I’d seen him do before.

photo by Anthony Augello © M&C

Saturday night was third night in his four night stint of all sold-out shows at the Palladium for the Meowingtons Hax Tour.

photo by Anthony Augello © M&C

The evening of music began with house DJ Jason Bentley; his set was hypnotic and mellow as people were getting pumped up for what proved to be a good night for EM (electronic music).

Zedd - photo by Anthony Augello © M&C

The next set was Zedd; this Electro DJ had a very high energy set that got the crowd extremely energized; his set was quite versatile, covering many genres of EM such as electro house, progressive house, drum and bass, and the ever so popular dubstep. The crowd was jumping, shuffling or just plain going with the bass.

photo by Anthony Augello © M&C

Then came the unusual team of Tommy Lee and Aero, their duo DJ set was nothing but crazy beats and even crazier drops. The Motley Crue drummer proved that he does have some respectable DJ skill. His girlfriend SOFI came on stage to sing over thunderous dubstep beats. Despite a very minor technical glitch, they put on an awesome set.

Tommy Lee & DJ Aero - photo by Anthony Augello © M&C

At midnight, the giant curtain covering the stage dropped, and there was the Canadian mouse-headed House phenomenon himself: Joel Zimmerman, otherwise known as deadmau5 (pronounced dead mouse).

He started off his set with his new track “Bad Selection”. The crowd got incredibly excited, many fans were wearing glow-stick mouse ears.

His new live set up is something that is almost comparable to The Chemical Brothers’ live visual art show.  deadmau5’ stage was multiple LED screen “cubes” that would show pictures and colors on beat to the current song playing. Even his iconic mouse head itself was a screen with a neon green lining around it.

SOFI with deadmau5 - photo by Anthony Augello © M&C

deadmau5’s two hour set had many of his great tracks both old and new such as Some Chords, his most well-known track Ghosts n’ Stuff mashed with Moar Ghosts n’ Stuff, Arguru, SOFI needs a Ladder and One Trick Pony (which SOFI also came on stage to sing both those tracks), FML and much more.

I was truly impressed by the fact that his set was consistently good throughout; there was not a single dull track in his mix. The Palladium dance floor was hot from all the people but that didn’t stop the fans from jumping and dancing. The difference between a deadmau5 track and any other house track is that you can actually get lost in a deadmau5 track. His calm piano/synth lines and beats truly separate him from other producers.

With his iconic giant mouse head, he truly created a visual legacy for himself; people can see that mouse head or a logo of it and know that it is deadmau5. He is only getting bigger and bigger in the music scene, and as we all know, popularity doesn’t negate talent. And in saying that I believe that deadmau5 is only getting better and better at what he does.

He’s evolving electronic music from a simple DJ set and created a no-miss live show that gets better with each time I see him. And last night’s set was one of the best combinations of music and visual performance of the year for me.  Make sure you catch this show when it comes to your city.