…Whatever happens Mumbai, I promise you, that the next two hours are gonna change your life…
These were the words with which Submerge’s brainchild and India’s premier dance music activist Nikhil Chinapa welcomed Zedd onto the decks at the Pleasuredome at Lalit Hotel in Mumbai. 2nd of June may well be the first day where the rain Gods gave respite from the blistering heat in Mumbai, but it will also be remembered when Zedd raised temperatures and blew the roof off in what is now being titled one of the best dance events this year.
Anton Zaslavski aka Zedd, is a Russian-German electronic music producer and DJ. He first made waves in the dance music industry when he won two different remix competitions on Beatport. His remix of Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” broke into the Beatport Electro House Top Ten charts, coming to rest at #2. Both his parents are musicians, which allowed him to learn the art of composition and musical harmony. Interestingly, Anton is a classically trained musician who began to learn to play the drums and piano at the age of four! He had revealed in an interview how he was very influenced by the French band Justice and draws inspiration from them. He primarily produces in the electro house genre, but has branched out, drawing influences from progressive house, complextro and dubstep.
Garnering huge support and accolades from DJ’s and artists all over the world, Zedd’s talent as a producer is unquestionable. He has remixed tracks of artists like The Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Skrillex, and more. He is currently producing Lady Gaga’s upcoming album ‘Artpop‘.
Following up to his very successful artist album ‘Clarity’ last year, Zedd made an appearance at the prestigious Ultra Music Festival earlier this year in Miami.
Zedd’s India tour has been one of the most highly anticipated events this summer, given his immensely strong fan base amongst the (suddenly)-dance crazed youth of India! Organized by Kitty Su, Submerge & WMS, Zedd’s India tour kick-started in New Delhi, before taking Bangalore by storm and finally concluding in Mumbai in an epic finale. Zedd, who happens to be one of the more active users on Twitter, created quite a buzz when he immediately tweeted after the Bangalore event, that it was “one of the best gigs of his life”! He went on further to add that “America needs to step up their game”! This obviously created quite a rush amongst his fans and doubled the excitement for the audience at Mumbai who now awaited the Zedd storm to take them in!
Proceedings began on a sultry Sunday at about 4:45 pm when the gates opened and the Pleasuredome welcomed the dance-hungry fans. The venue debuted last year when the immensely popular Steve Aoki performed for some 2200 of his eager fans! Mumbai is blessed with some popular venues, clubs and grounds when it comes to dance music events, but the Pleasuredome (as the name smartly suggests) is just a treat for all dance fans alike. Mounted on a steel skeleton, the pleasure dome is enveloped in canvas and air conditioned by ducts running along the length of the arena. The VIP decks are innovatively designed as well. Even while being elevated, they weren’t isolated from the remaining crowd as it was designed like passages enveloping the main stage area. Add the food and beverages stalls on the side and the restrooms tucked away outside, the Pleasuredome is prepped up to be one the finest venues of the country! Event management from The Lalit was spot on and there were no signs of any major delays or goof-ups.
Starting with the warmup at 5 pm was Kitty Su’s very own DJ Mash from Delhi. As the crowd gradually found its way into the arena, so did DJ Mash’s set progress. Beginning with some deep tech he gradually shifted gears as he moved onto some deep house and progressive tracks. Audience members instinctively grooved to the likes of ‘Beg (Hot Since 82 Future Remix)‘ by Yousef, ‘Like You‘ by Hot Since 82 and ‘Never Enough (MousseT. & Boris Dlugosch Odd Couple remix)‘ by Boris Dlugosch Feat. Róisín Murphy.
Nawed Khan, who recently returned from Ibiza attending a Music conference, was in Balearic mode as he began his set with Duke Dumont’s ‘The Giver‘. Dropping the DJ from his stage name, Nawed ensured balanced energy as he kept his set simple and straight with progressive numbers throughout with some hard hitting electro numbers every now and then. Warming up for a high octane set like Zedd’s is no easy task, and Nawed put all his experience in use with his careful track selection. Dropping some of his preffered tracks from this year such as ‘We Get High‘ by Hoxton Whores, ‘Everyday‘ by the legendary Eric Prydz and his favourite ‘Walls‘ by American duo Sultan and Ned Shepard feat. Quilla.
Besides his own master remixes, Nawed dropped in some bombs and sent the crowd into pangs of hysteria with remixes of Daft Punk’s latest anthem ‘Get Lucky‘, Josh Wink’s ancient ‘Higher State of Conciousness‘ and Coldplay’s ‘Every Teardrop is a Waterfall‘. And for all the times the crowd seem to simmer down, he would drop some dance anthems to remind them why they were here! With tracks like ‘Jump (Natural Born Grooves)‘ by Funkatarium, ‘Monkey See Monkey Do‘ by Tommy Trash, ‘Endorphins‘ by Sub focus feat. Alex Clare and ‘You’ve Got the Love (Mark Knight Remix)‘ by Florence + The Machine. Towards the end of his set he was joined on the decks by Nikhil Chinapa numerous times, as he made his excitement known to the audience time and again. Perhaps he was eager to see if Mumbai could provide the ultimate cherry on a very tasty cake for Zedd, especially after his reactions to Bangalore the night before. And so concluded a very special set by mixmaster Nawed Khan.
And so finally the time had arrived. Before the first beat had even dropped and before Anton even stepped on stage or was visible to the crowds, the crowd began to get hysterically loud and restless. With thunderous roar and cheers and to the soft murmurs of Matthew Koma, Zedd finally appeared with arms raised and acknowledging the love he was being shown. Without wasting anytime, Zedd got onto the task of blowing up our minds right away with his anthem ‘Spectrum‘ and a little sneak peek of ‘In My Mind (Axwell Remix)‘. Following it up with the high energy remix of Skrillex’s ‘Breakin a Sweat‘;
Zedd made sure nobody would be standing rooted to the ground! Add a little ‘Kick Out The Epic Motherf**ker‘ and he ensured some heavy basslines ripping through the crowd. While his set included many of his own productions and remixes, Zedd dropped familiar anthems as he chose a tracklisting where the crowd could celebrate a season of some the best electro house productions. Tracks like Syndicate Of Law’s ‘Right On Time‘, Wolfgang Gartner’s dramatic ‘There and back‘, Nari & Milani’s ‘Atom‘ and Sander Van Doorn’s ‘Joyenergizer‘ kept the tempo up and the crowd screaming for more.
Zedd must have certainly perfected his talents as a classical musician as he was nothing short of a conductor in this orchestra of pounding basslines, blithesome vocals and joyous melodies. The audience was united in celebration as people were jumping from the VIP section into the regular area to be part of this Zedd experience! Showering the crowds with anthem after another, Zedd never took his foot off the basslines, as the crowd hardly seemed to simmer down at any point of the night! Lining up tunes from his own backyard he dropped Lazy Rich’s remix of ‘Stars Come Out’; ‘Shave it’ with a cheeky acapella of ‘I Like to Move it’, the pixelated ‘Legend of Zelda‘, his incredible remix of Empire & the Sun’s ‘Alive‘, the redefining Torro Torro remix of ‘Clarity‘ and the sweet vocals of Ellie Goulding with ‘Fall into the Sky‘.
Other dancefloor killers included the epic remix by Laidback Luke of Benny Benassi’s ‘Cinema‘, Fedde le Grand’s ‘Put your Hands Up for Detroit’, Skylar Grey’s ‘Coming Home’, My Digital Enemy & Rob Marmot’s tribal anthem ‘African Drop (Tom Staar Remix)‘ Calvin Harris & Florence Welch’s enigmatic ‘Sweet Nothing (Luan Peterson remix)‘, Swedish House Mafia’s finale ‘Don’t You Worry Child‘, Dada Life’s super remix of Kaskade’s ‘Llove‘ and the lovely ‘Push Play‘ by Miriam Bryant. Some innovative mashups sent the crowd into a dance frenzy when Hard Rock Sofa’s ‘Quasar’ was served up with Swedish House Mafia’s ‘Save the World‘, their beloved ‘Greyhound‘ was fused with Deniz Koyu’s ‘Tung‘ and Plastic Funk’s ‘Who‘ was cheekily teamed up with the familiar “Who let the dogs out?“
A stand out moment of the night had to be when Zedd pulled the loop back to a stutter and imposed what can be described as the biggest ever ‘Harlem Shake‘ that Mumbai has ever seen! Scenes of 2000 people going crazy and turning the dancefloor into an electro mosh-pit will stay in our memories for a long time! More tracks that were successfully tested on the energetic crowd included ‘Bbbs‘ by Clockwork, ‘Cowboy (Torro Torro remix)‘ by Zeds Dead & Omar Linx, ‘Sonar’ by Eddie K & Millions Like Us, Roy Rosenfeld’s amazing ‘Eastern Delight‘, ‘Next Order‘ by Dog Blood and the outstanding ‘Rattle’ by Bingo Players
At about 10 minutes to 10, Zedd dropped in his famed ‘Shotgun‘ and exclaimed to the crowd “…Mumbai..did you guys know that you’ll are the best f**king crowd in the universe!!” Having Zedd say this was nothing short of sweet music to the ears of all the Dance music fans present that night. Despite dancing for over 5 hours, they let out a giant roar in acknowledgement that….”YES..INDEED WE ARE”! Putting the brakes on ‘Shotgun’, Zedd quickly made an exit of the stage. A technician arrived and it looked like it all was over, when somewhere from the back, an encore began! “Zedd…Zedd..Zedd..ZEDD..ZEDD…ZEDD..ZEDD..ZEDD!!” The emphatic cheering was rewarded as Zedd hopped right back on stage and dropped one from Steve Aoki! Mass Hysteria followed then, as the last 10 minutes clearly reflected that Mumbai was always up to the ‘dance till you drop’ spirit! Finally concluding the way he started, Zedd finsihed the night and his tour with ‘Spectrum‘, as Matthew Koma rightly suggested “….I will never let you go..!”
An emotional Nikhil Chinapa emerged on the decks seconds after Zedd left and praised the Mumbai crowd for putting on a great show. He even went on to state, “Who the f**k needs Miami when we have Mumbai?!” Clearly extrememly proud and pleased with the way the night had turned out he added that, “Just like you guys, I love dance music…and what we’ve started here tonight will continue for a long long time to come!” With that came to an end what can only be described as a memorable and truly unforgettable night!
But before we close this chapter, we want to thank each and every person in the crowd to have created that vibe at Pleasure Dome. Without you all this evening wouldn’t have been what it turned out to be. This is just a tiny example,
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Special thanks to The Lalit Hotel – Kitty Su, WMS and the Submerge team.
Gig Review by Hamed Khalidi
Edited by Chaitanya Mathur & Ehsan Atiq, Photographs by Shannon Lobo.
Reblogged this on Hamed Khalidi Blogging.
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