Jamie xx Dazzles at the Armory

Seeing Jamie xx on stage at the Armory felt surreal, in the best possible way. It may have not been a sellout crowd, but it felt pretty close on the floor in general admission.

The setup was different from the stage at the end of a long room that most people use when they play the Armory (don’t get me wrong, the default is great).

Instead, he reduced the overall length by setting up a stage in front of the usual one. Two high racks of lighting flanked either side of the crowd and a series of light towers set up in a kind of oval created a more intimate-feeling dance floor in the middle of the large space.

Lastly, like at all of his shows, a large disco ball gently spun over the crowd, majestic and untouched by a spotlight for the first half of the show. When the light finally hit the thing, there was a collective ‘awe’ from the crowd, audible over the music.

Jamie xx is a master of his craft, a DJ who can deftly shape the energy in a room with the best of them. If he wants people in a frenzy, he knows how to get them there. If he wants you slowly drifting back and forth, he has a thousand recipes to make it happen. Even when you know what’s coming, when you hear a chord or a sample of a familiar song, he’ll still surprise with the way he plays it into the mix.

Possibly more important is that he does it without a word to the crowd. If there was a mic, he never picked it up. For me, there’s nothing worse than a DJ constantly shouting at the crowd, instructing them on how to react to the music. The music should be doing that and if it isn’t, you should go back and practice more.

In terms of his playlist, it was the most Jamie xx music I’ve ever heard him play. Historically, at least in my experience, he typically plays 50% of his own music and a random selection of others mixed in.

The best part of this night’s setlist was it contained so many tracks from his seminal 2015 release, In Colour. Nothing against his new album, In Waves, which is also fantastic. But I’ve had so much time and memories with the older release. It’s like a friend I’ve carried with me all along, and I just met this new one. It’ll just take time.

I’ve traveled across the country to see Jamie xx perform, from Coachella to Chicago to San Francisco, so it was refreshing to finally see him in Minneapolis. I hope we don’t have to wait so long to see him back in town. Until then, I’ll keep traveling as far as I need to to keep him in my life. If you’re near a future stop on this tour, I’d highly recommend making it out to catch him.