Concert Review: Skrillex at First Avenue, 11/10/13

When I sat in line outside of First Avenue waiting for doors to open, I had no idea what to expect.  I had experienced a couple of what I thought were “rough” crowds a few years before (crowd surges during set-up between sets), but absolutely NOTHING compared to what I experienced on Sunday night.  From the moment the first opener (Valentino Khan) began his set, I was so compressed against the barrier that it was sometimes hard to breathe.  I have never had to fight so hard to keep my spot at a show.  I still have multiple bruises, and my arms are still sore from gripping the barrier as tightly as I could for 3 ½ hours straight.  My hair was matted and sticky afterward from a combination of sweat and tossed beverages, and my ears were ringing so loudly I couldn’t even hear myself talk.  And I loved every minute of it.

The first thing I noticed when I claimed my spot at the front was a massive subwoofer (approx. 4’ high, 20’ wide, 2’ deep) between the barrier and the stage.  There were also a bunch of Skrillex alien-balloons on the ceiling.

The openers (Valentino Khan, and Bro Safari) played a back-to-back continuous set, which I was really appreciative for, as it gave the crowd less of an opportunity to focus on suffocating me, and more of a chance to focus on the music…while still unintentionally suffocating me.  So I guess I liked it because I was at least thoroughly enjoying myself while being oxygen deprived, due to literal lack of room for my lungs to expand.  It is at this point that I would love to reiterate my tweet thanking First Avenue security for handling the crowd situation, and for making sure that nobody in the front ACTUALLY suffocated or got too hurt.   

Immediately when Valentino Khan began his set, I knew that I was in for the biggest party of my life.  Never in my experience has a crowd immediately been drawn into an opener’s set.  But I guess that’s one thing I really love about the EDM community: we’re all united in that if the music is loud, and the beats are hot, we’ll dance no matter what.

The minutes leading up to Skrillex’s set were projected on the huge video screen behind his table.

The only words I can think of to describe Skrillex’s set are “robot orgasm”, so instead of trying to elaborate on that, I present to you a compilation of videos I took.

I really enjoyed the intimate atmosphere of this unusually small show.  As he says in the video, he really wanted to bring things back down to Earth with this mini-tour.  It was absolutely the most UNREAL night I have ever experienced, and it was so much more than I ever could have expected.  It may not be for everyone, but braving the pit (as a 5'3", 22 year old girl) is something I’m really proud of, and I would definitely do it again, because it really does complete the experience.  And I’ll never tire of hearing artists reference how important playing at First Avenue is to them, because they grew up with Prince and Purple Rain.

-Melani