Steve Aoki is no ordinary DJ. He’s the ringleader for the new generation of ravers — or at least that’s how his Deadmeat tour makes it seem.
Aoki’s tour stopped in Ottawa March 1 for a sold-out show at the Ottawa Civic Centre.
Canadian DJ Datsik opened for Aoki, pumping up the crowd with plenty of hip-hop remixes. The opening beats of Jay-Z’s “Niggas in Paris” were welcomed by monstrous cheers from the crowd. As Datsik put his dubstep spin on the track, the neon-wearing, glow stick-wielding audience raised their arms and twisted their bodies in unity.
During the rest of Datsik’s set, the crowd in front of the stage grew and the venue got hotter.
Around 11:15 p.m., Aoki got behind the decks. From the moment he got on stage, it was clear his priority was hyping up the audience and creating an unforgettable spectacle.
Before even playing any music, he told everyone, “Put your fucking hands up,” took a picture with his phone, and said he was tweeting it out to the world.
The audience was certainly photo-worthy, dressed up in outfits reminiscent of 1990’s rave culture, with a hardcore edge.
Furry legwarmers, light-up T-shirts, knee-high socks with short shorts, sunglasses and of course, glow sticks were all commonplace in the crowd.
Aoki played a set of entirely his own original music, and included a good balance of his past hits and songs from his new debut album, Wonderland.
All the music he played maintained a high level of energy. The peaks in the show were created by crowd-hyping rather than by particular songs, proving that Aoki is as much of a showman as he is a musician.
A few songs into his set, he raised a bottle of champagne high above his head. The audience roared in response, and Aoki came out from behind the decks and ran up to the front of the stage.
He shook the bottle as he moved around to the thumping beat of the music. He uncorked the bottle and gave the first few rows of euphoric fans a champagne shower as he ran from the right side of the stage to the left.
Keeping the audience pumped up, Aoki followed the first champagne shower with his massively popular “Warp,” and stayed at the front of the stage with a wireless microphone so he could get the audience to sing along with its “whoop whoop” refrain.
The champagne was only the beginning: a few songs later, Aoki’s crew brought out a yellow inflatable boat. Aoki pointed to people in the audience to come up on stage, jump in the boat, and crowd surf.
Next was a large chocolate cake, which Aoki tossed at a young man near the front (with his permission).
Everyone around him got splattered by chocolate, and the cake ended up on the floor, which was already slippery from champagne, so the act of dancing became more about keeping on two feet for that section of the crowd.
Not content to stop there, Aoki also threw handfuls of lettuce into the crowd during “No Beef,” and fed thirsty mouths in the front from big bottles of juice. The fans went crazy every time.
Aoki ended his set with his remix of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness,” and returned for an encore with a song off Wonderland.
During his encore, he brought out the inflatable raft one last time.
“I’m your show, and you’re my show. All of you guys,” he said right before his last song.
