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Dance music superstar deadmau5 performed a double header at the Fillmore on Wednesday and Thursday nights with a light show that hypnotized and fans that ate it up. The crowd was a hot, raving mass of people – from 20-somethings wearing glowsticks galore, “kandi kids,” to the skimpier dressed donning flashing mouse ears. Oh, and don’t forget all the guys who were shirtless.
But they had good reason to forgo clothing. The Fillmore felt less like a concert auditorium and more like an oven for the show’s five-hour duration. You could feel the anticipation building and building – through nearly four hours of anticipation and two opening acts.
First up was opener Jonas Tempel, a local Denver DJ. His set was entertaining, and his spinning skills were above par. Unfortunately, however, two hours of the same beat is more than anyone can take, and, towards the end of his set, it looked like Tempel was enjoying his music more than most of his audience.
Skrillex, the second opener on both nights, rejuvenated the crowd with a variety of beats and flow. Even better was his dubstep performance – each song blasted with a grimy bass and beats that immediately made you throw your hands in the air and move with the hypnotic rhythm.
It was 10:30 p.m. before deadmau5, real name Joel Zimmerman, finally made an appearance. And what an appearance it was. Atop a massive cube, deadmau5 ruled over the audience like an Aztec god among men. The kandi kids threw their glowsticks onstage as if it were some form of sacrificial offering. His beats had them swaying in time like a conductor to an orchestra. What a marvel.
Even more than before, the masses were soaked in sweat and drenched in dance music. Highlights included “I Remember,” “Strobe,” “FML” and, the favorite, “Moar Ghosts N Stuff.” But the crowd’s response to deadmau5’s set was mixed – for some songs, they went wild; for others, they went to the bathroom.
But that’s the beauty of deadmau5, for dance and house music in which tracks can often sound same-y and blur together, deadmau5’s set kept you guessing. He never played the same beat back-to-back, nor did he ever use the same lighting. And the lights were a show in and of themselves, as deadmau5’s stage cube morphed from a Rubik’s Cube to a computer screen to a mess of jungle vines – all via different light projections.
Just when you think deadmau5 had used every staging gimmick to make you worship his omnipotent spinning skills, his mouse helmet would light up and the candy kids would “ooh” and “ahh” in synchronicity. Was that staged? Is he a dance music god? Too late. At this point all you can say is “Yes, master” and ride the beat.