Dead Rocks @ Red Rocks feat. Zeds Dead, Dillon Francis, Paper Diamond, Haywyre, Mija, and Hunter Siegel: 7-2-2015

Before Fourth of July Weekend, Red Rocks Amphitheatre hosted a show titled Dead Rocks with well-known Zeds Dead. Before them was Dillon Francis, Paper Diamond, Haywyre, Mija, and Hunter Siegel.

Paper Diamond was the first DJ I saw, and I didn’t see much of him. What I did see of him I didn’t think was that great to be honest. His short set was just OK to me. He didn’t play long because what was once a very sunny day turned into rain and hail. He started packing his equipment up and in response, the crowd chanted “Rain or Shine!” He didn’t come back on though and we had to wait a while for the rain to stop for Dillon Francis to start his set early.

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I’ve seen Dillon Francis twice before this set at Red Rocks. I had a good time both times, but never found his shows to be very exceptional or anything. I wasn’t expecting much from his set this time around, but he proved me wrong.

First off, Dillon Francis is just known to be arrogant. Ask anyone who’s into electronic music and you’ll get mixed opinions of Dillon Francis. Some will say they dig his music; others will say, “Oh, that asshole?” I couldn’t help but laugh through his set when he incorporated his own face into his visuals. He played a small clip of himself at his own pretend birthday party. I thought it was hilarious and I loved his use of popular emojis in the visuals as well.

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As for the music, I thought he performed really well compared to the previous few times I saw him. He had a lot of his Dubstep sound in the beginning of his set, but as he eased his way through, he started incorporating his other side “DJ Hanzel”, his deep house alter ego.

Overall, his set was unexpected in a good way and I thought he was a great opener for Zeds Dead.

Zeds Dead’s set was amazing. I’d even say that it was the best Dubstep set I’ve seen. And it wasn’t just Dubstep that they touched into Thursday night. The two DJs masterfully explored other subgenres that night as well. They truly have their own unique style and they successfully showed that at Dead Rocks.

One of the things I like about a DJ duo is that as an audience member, you get to see two friends just go back and forth with creating a sound for the listeners to enjoy. I could feel that fun energy from Zeds Dead and it made the show even that more enjoyable.

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The two also seem just very genuine in their love of making their music. They got emotional at the end of their set stating how grateful they were for playing at Red Rocks and that they hoped to come back to perform again. I hope they do!

 

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Bassrush feat. 12th Planet & Loudpvck @ Beta Nightclub: June 10

On Wednesday night, June 10th, Beta Nightclub hosted Bassrush, which featured 12th Planet and Loudpvck. Loudpvck performed first and 12th Planet followed. The DJs closed off the night with an awesome B2B set.

To put it simply, Loudpvck killed their set. I’ve never heard of them before, but during their set I couldn’t help but think that 12th Planet had a tough act to follow. Loudpvck was definitely more trap than Dubstep, but the bass they produced was fun to dance to nonetheless.
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12th Planet went up next. I had seen him at a show before, and thought it was just a really fun time. I wondered how he was going to be at Beta, and I felt the same way this time around too. In my opinion, 12th Planet is very representative of the Dubstep genre. He has a very bass-heavy sound; it would be hard to not dance to it and enjoy yourself. I really respect him as a Dubstep DJ because you can really see it in his sets that he’s having fun and experimenting with his sound. He’s bringing the audience in to have fun with him too.

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I love when DJs come together and perform a B2B set. It really changes the energy of the show, and I know their fans enjoy it. Loudpvck and 12th Planet were so in synch with each other, bouncing each other’s sound back and forth. Even though it was a Wednesday night, I wasn’t ready for the show to end. I felt like they just got started!

Bassrush was just a really fun night overall. The vibe in Beta that night was very different from most other nights I go. Since it was a Wednesday night, I really felt like most of the “bros” that usually come out on a Friday night stayed home and Loudpvck and 12 Planet’s fans were in attendance that night. Check them out on SoundCloud if you haven’t listened to them before:

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Bassnectar @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre: May 30

Let me just start by saying that Bassnectar’s show at Red Rocks Saturday night might be the best performance I’ve ever seen. He performed for 3 nights at Red Rocks.

Before I get into that, let’s briefly go over the openers:

jackLNDN opened first and the crowd wasn’t excited in the least. I could only see a few people around me dancing, while everyone else remained seated. I heard someone next to me saying that he was killing her vibe.

Next up was Son of Kick. I felt bad for jackLNDN because once he got off stage and Son of Kick started playing, everyone got up to start dancing. I thought he was pretty good and was a great choice to open for Bassnectar.

Benga came on right before Bassnectar and I had mixed opinions about him. His music was very bassy and fun to dance to. I would have enjoyed it more if he didn’t talk into the mic for basically every song performed. At the end of his set, he even stated that he was going to play one more song, but then ended up talking too much that he ran out of time! Annoying to say the least. But he definitely is a great Dubstep artist.

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And finally, Bassnectar was up. I immediately became excited when I saw that on his laptops he brought out, there was his notorious Bassnectar symbol instead of the Apple symbol. Super cool.

Bottom line, Bassnectar has an amazing production. I’ve always heard people say that nothing else beats it, and they were certainly right. I was told that Friday night the show was more trippy whereas the Saturday night show was very bassy. Saturday night was in fact extremely bassy. The sound was so intense and I could feel the bass vibrate through my body. I also wish I went Friday night to see just how trippy it was because I felt that Saturday night had trippy visuals on its own. They were very geometric and contained different images with bright colors. All of it went so well with the music and changed as the music changed.

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On Friday night, Bassnectar had announced to the crowd that he didn’t care about the new rule in regards to noise pollution for Red Rocks. He said he was going to be as loud as he wanted all weekend and he would just pay the fines. I thought that was awesome and goes to show how much love he has for his fans.

I also loved that he had a singer come up on stage at one point and accompany him in one of his songs. It created a unique feel to the overall production and I think it sets him a part from other artists in general.

The best part though, and I’m sure everyone who attended would agree, was when Bassnectar delivered a powerful message, originally given by Bill Hayes, in which Bassnectar compared life to an amusement park in which we think is real because that’s how powerful our minds are.

Bassnectar’s production is unlike anything you will ever see I think. You can really feel his passion radiate through his music and I definitely want to see him again. My only disappointment was that I wish I went for all three nights. Everyone around me was so happy to see their favorite artist and it made me happy to be surrounded by people with such great energy.

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Feed Me with Dirt Monkey & Ishe @ Beta Nightclub: May 25

As part of Beta’s 7 year anniversary and Memorial Day weekend celebration, Feed Me headlined a packed venue. Dirt Monkey & Ishe were the openers for the night.

Ishe started first out back on the porch where a BBQ was set up for the audience that night. He set the perfect mood for the rainy evening. His music had a chill vibe to it and towards the end of his set, he incorporated some drum and bass into the Dubstep sounds. Overall, he was a great opener before Dirt Monkey.

Dirt Monkey was up next. He’s a local DJ from Boulder who opens up for headliners frequently at Beta. He never disappoints when he performs. I’m always really excited when I see that he is opening, and I always overhear other people in the crowd excited for him too.

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Feed Me came on next and I think the best way to describe him is that he has a lot of variety to what he presents to the crowd. He didn’t just play Dubstep; he incorporated a lot of different electronic genres in his set. I feel like in this way he really appealed to every individual person there.

What I also liked about Feed Me was that I could tell he is really passionate about his work. It made me happy to see him smiling out to the crowd, clearly enjoying what he was doing. I think my favorite moment was when he played his song “One Click Headshot”. And who couldn’t like the infamous “teeth” as part of the visuals.

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Feed Me is a truly unique artist and I recommend checking him out on Facebook or SoundCloud.

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