A few weeks ago, Radiohead announced that they would play two dates at the famous Roseland Ballroom (QRO venue review). The Web was abuzz with predictions of how quickly the two concerts would sell out and how great they will be. Sure enough, the two shows did sell out instantly and (for those who were able to get into them) were rather memorable.
But months before the Radiohead announcement was the announcement that deadmau5 would be playing six (yes, six) nights at the same venue in October. All six nights would eventually sell out – and rather so. These shows were unlike any I’ve ever been to.
I remember meeting Joel Zimmerman briefly backstage at Bonnaroo 2010. I had just finished watching Dan Deacon Ensemble and he came out, standing a few feet in front of me. As his stage set was being built, we tossed around a beach ball. Without a word, we had a back-and-forth for about 15 minutes. Then without a word, he climbs on stage. Despite his quiet demeanor, the show was loud, hard showy. To this day, deadmau5’s grand performance still remains one of the best Bonnaroo had to offer this year.
One album later (4×4=12), deadmau5 showed up to perform on the ‘Meowington HAX’ tour, a tour comprised of equally phenomenal performers such as Excision, ZEDD, Alex English and labelmate Feed Me. Each performer performed a rather lengthy set, longer than most sets I’ve seen from an opener. I thought I had seen it all at Bonnaroo – my first time seeing the Rubik’s Cube up-close and the just-introduced LED helmet. But this tour further pushed the envelope of the visual stimulus.
I remember being breathless for a good minute on seeing the new helmet – a helmet so simple, yet of breathtaking design. This was before any music had been played.
The whole set was one of the few I’ve ever seen that infused the senses of sound and sight, rather than accompany it. There were times I was lost in the visual setting of it all, as I was in “Cthulhu Sleeps” with arguably the most terrifying image of the fictional creature to be captured and in “HR 8938 Cephei” where I tried to figure out which video game Zimmerman was depicting on screen. But all in all, each mix made a smooth transition into the next, never falling short and never ceasing. Guest vocalist Sofi even came out around 12:30 or so to perform alongside the towering cube.
The review clearly doesn’t paint the picture. Below is video of some of the performance as well as the set list used. The ‘Meowington HAX’ tour continues, heading into Boston, Detroit and Chicago for multiple dates as well as dates in San Francisco, Albany and Toronto.
deadmau5 playing “Some Chords” & “Cthulhu Sleep” live @ Roseland Ballroom in New York, NY:
Set list from the Roseland Ballroom shows
