Text and photos by Mike Wilson
As I began my journey to the entrance of the Ritz Theatre for Deadmau5 and Burnz, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I’ve been to Bonnaroo the past two years and I witnessed the dance tents that turn techno and house by midnight. When Tiesto was in town I heard he didn’t go on until after midnight, and I was hoping Deadmau5 wouldn’t live up to those shoes. Well, he did. So after my arrival time of 9pm I learned shortly after his performance time was set for 12:45 – 3am. Great, so I get to sit around and watch these fool’s wave glow sticks in front of each other’s face for almost four hours. Entertaining. When I walked into the venue I noticed the elaborate light setup on the stage for both performers, and that’s when I knew it would be worth the wait.
At 9pm the venue was not even close to being half way to capacity, which I was enjoying because I didn’t have to deal with shoulder to shoulder walking space. Of course, right when I realized how comfortable it was, the mobs starting piling through both entrances and before I knew it I was forced to hangout up in the VIP balcony to watch all these new, interesting friends dance until they drop.
Now, I don’t listen to this type of music all the time, but get enough drinks in my system and I’ll move to anything. Let’s just say, I didn’t have enough. I continued to listen to the opening act Burnz and recognized a few songs he was mixing, so that made it enjoyable. After checking the time every five minuets to see how much time was left before Deadmau5, it was already time, even though almost four hours passed.
Deadmau5 put on the dance party of ’09. Every person in the venue was jumping, dancing, and of course, glow sticking to every bass note that is blown from the speakers. DM started his set without his famous mouse helmet on, which to me, was very disappointing. I think he sensed my frustration and decided to place the helmet on, and the crowd went wild. After about a song or two later, the helmet was removed. Unacceptable. I mean, come on guy, your acting like it gets hot in that cute little helmet of yours. He ended up playing the rest of his set without the helmet, but placing it back on his head for his last song before the encore was performed.
I don’t have many of Deadmau5’s albums, but I noticed a majority of his set was off the album For Lack of A Better Name, which is the album I own, so not too many complaints coming from my end.
By the time 2:50am hit the crowd, it was time to leave, and by the look on about 75% of the people dancing, they still had some strange urge to keep the moves alive. Not sure what exactly had them bouncing around, but I’ll take a guess and just say it was the great music being played over the PA system. I highly recommend attending a house concert, even if you aren’t into the music, you’ll still be in for a trip, just watch the light show, it’s almost like you were on the same page as everyone else enjoying the show.
This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2009.