 "Photo: Chasen Doerr | Daily 49er")
The roof to the Grove of Anaheim was nearly blown off as a handful of big-name DJs, including headliner and critically-aclaimed artist Steve Aoki, blasted earth-shaking electronic and house music to a sold-out crowd last Saturday.
Electronic music producers DirtyRock, LBCK (Long Beach City Kids) AutoErotique, 12th Planet and Aoki each weaved solid hour-long sets, which featured some of the electronic music world's most popular dance songs.
LBCK, local electronic duo, warmed up a slowly-arriving crowd with funky tracks from their debut album "START." The duo, which is made up of Long Beach residents, Alex Noble and Luigi Ill, shared the soundboard by standing behind a flashing light fixture that spelled out LBCK.
Canadian house music producer, AutoErotique, took over for LBCK and kept the dancing going as more of the audience started to arrive. With stage lights flashing, beach balls flying and confetti falling over the crowd, AutoErotique played a remix of Swedish House Mafia's "Save the World," which spurred everyone in the audience to sing along.
Dubstep producer, 12th Planet, followed AutoErotique by playing some of his most wobbly tracks. With the bass turned up high, 12th Planet melted the brains of the audience, delivering a full-body rumbling with his song "Reasons." Screaming into the microphone the entire set, his voice was raspy by the end, but his enthusiasm was more than enough to get the crowd ready for Aoki. Twelfth Planet concluded his set by jumping off the stage to crowd surf.
After a short break in between sets , the crowd appeared restless, chanting for Aoki to take the stage.
Aoki then emerged from the darkness only moments later with his pet bulldog, CoCo, under his arm. After introducing his dog to the crowd, Aoki finally took the helm and guided the crowd through the most entertaining set of the night.
Aoki made sure everyone knew most of his set was going to be comprised of music from his upcoming album, which will be released next year. He screamed into the microphone each time he announced the title of the new tracks and the different DJs he had collaborated with. New tracks included collaborations with dubstep producer Bassnectar and rapper Kid Cudi.
Aoki still balanced his set with plenty of crowd favorites. Highlights included his remix of Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness" and his collaboration with Bloody Beetroots "Warp 1.9."
"Turbulence," Aoki's collaboration with fellow music producers Laidback Luke and Lil John, had the crowd bouncing. As the song slowly built up to its drop, Aoki stood up on the soundboard table, raising his hands and mimicking as if he were flying an airplane.
He never stayed in one place too long as he strutted across the stage, screaming to the crowd through the microphone. Aoki made sure the crowd stayed well-hydrated as he threw water bottles into the audience and poured orange juice over those jumping the highest in the front. He surprised the crowd by bringing out several chocolate cakes, which he appropriately smashed into several people's faces.
At one point, his antics may have gotten a little to out of control as his music was shut off for a short moment so he could be told he couldn't continue pouring orange juice and smashing cake. Aoki settled down for about a minute until he reassured the crowd that he wasn't going to follow the rules and promptly brought out a line of more water bottles, pitchers of orange juice and cakes to cover the crowd.
Before Aoki's set came to a close, 12th Planet returned to the stage to announce it was Aoki's birthday. Twelfth Planet then got the entire crowd to sing "Happy Birthday" to a humbled Aoki, who finished his set by continuing to pour water on the audience.
Aoki is a treat to see every time he takes the stage. It's not just his music that makes him one the most popular DJs currently, but it is his energy and showmanship that turns what is typically someone just standing behind a soundboard into a full-blown electronic music rock concert.
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