Grounded

It’s Friday at around 6:30 when a tweet hits the Twitterverse. It’s the worst possible news, deadmau5 is stuck in NYC because his plane is grounded due to a storm passing through the East Coast. I immediately went to my radar app to see what was happening, and it didn’t look great. This looked like some bad weather, but at the same time, from growing up in a huge flying household, this totally could have been beaten.

There’s no way a storm could kill off one of the most anticipated shows of the year right? There has to be some strings management could pull to get his jet off the ground right? It turns out there was a little to more to the story.

Rumors were swirling about, some thought the storm was keeping him on the ground (the truth), some thought it might have something to do with a little spat with local management and some thought it was an elaborate prank. You can actually see the whole saga on Joel’s (Deadmau5) twitter. It’s rather entertaining.

deadmau5 - Photo by Chris Taylor — deadmau5 – Photo by Chris Taylor

As it turns out his plane had to strafe the storm all the way down to the south before they could make a beeline to the Armory. A police escort even got involved to ensure that Joel made it in time for the Midnight deadline to ensure a special 2-hour set was even possible.

Back at the Armory, when the midnight deadline struck, the giant curtain that had been obscuring the set started to glow. A faint outline of a cube appeared and disappeared for a quick second. Then it happened again, but this time, the iconic mouse ears peeked over the top of the cube. It was time for deadmau5 and his set with the cube.

The Cube

Deadmau5’s cube has gained a sort of legendary reputation. It’s a set unlike any other, the DJ stand is at least 30 feet higher than the stage itself, set upon a cube arranged at 45-degree angle. The entire cube itself is comprised of video screens and the stage around the cube has even more.

It’s truly a sight to behold live. This is a world class production in the world of EDM, it’s meant to blow pretty much anything else out of the water, and it pretty much does just that. I mean look at this. Push the cube into my chest. (Obscure transformers reference) Wow.

The show was a spectacle from start to finish. Visuals included weird work out videos, geometric patterns, sunsets, floating brains, a weird cow thing and more I can’t remember off the top of my head and the set was filled with fan favorites from deadmau5’s entire massive discography.

The crowd heard such songs as “Some Chords,” “I Remember,” “Sofi Needs a Ladder” and more. “Moar Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff” & “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff” made an appearance in the middle of the set which I found surprising, but maybe that was the point. There’s no reason to play the song everyone expects to be last, last.

Pretty much every well-known song made an appearance during the set and a few deep cuts, including one song that is going to drive me absolutely nuts. I’ve listened to it a ton, but I can’t quite get the name to come to me.

The mouse head also was a changing fixture of the show with its eyes lighting up, mouth turning to green, or it being off entirely off altogether. It was an engaging set from start to finish which sometimes can be hard to do when you keep crown interaction to a minimum. However, when you have as many hits as deadmau5, you can keep a crowd going without talking to them.

Stadium <<<< Music Centric Venue

This was a perfect example of a show that the Armory was meant for. The show utilized the absolutely mammoth size of the facility to have their full production on display and it was glorious. Lights beamed across the multi-tiered building, and the crowd filled the GA section from front to back.

At times it looked like something out a Sci-fi production or something you’d see in some concept art. Thousands upon thousands of people facing an enigmatic cube, mesmerized by the lights and sounds that were being emitted from it. You kind of got religious vibes at times (funny because I’m pretty sure there was some religious imagery on the cube at one point.)

Overall, this was the armory at full effect. A production that utilized the venue for everything it could offer and it still had room to spare. It was an absolute spectacle and was one of the more memorable productions I’ve been a part of. It shows the power of what a music-centric venue like the Armory can do for a city.

A year ago at this time, I would have never even considered a show like this to be possible in Minneapolis. But here we are. It’s exciting to think of the possibilities of what other acts can do as our city keeps filling this venue to capacity and what other unique productions can make use of the space. Deadmau5 put on a spectacular show, it was a testament to his amazing production. And, in conjunction for with Armory, it made for an unforgettable night.