On the other end of the VELD spectrum, rising hip-hop star ILoveMakonnen showed his love for the crowd, candidly offering us the sentiment that festival organizers gave him the option to cancel due to prior weather concerns. Fortunately for myself and any other hip-hop deprived festivalgoers, he opted against it. In light of this news, we all turnt up to the Drake co-signed “Tuesday” and Father’s “Look At Wrist,” which ILoveMakonnen features on
Hearing Disclosure’s new song “Bang That,” I emerged from my hour- long food break and I was planted right in the middle of one of progressive house’s biggest names – Kaskade’s – set on the main stage. Another set full of pyrotechnic effects you could feel all the way back to the VIP area, it also featured a colourful and chromatic lightshow of rows upon rows of potlights.
This time around, VELD had a more impressive stage setup for its main stage. A wall of lights was immersed within a sea of screens that almost seemed to form the letter “V” many times over. Surely, it wasn’t a coincidence, as VELD’s logo for this year was the same letter encapsulated within a circle – the very same figure as a few small screens also on the stage.
As the night began to enter its fourth quarter, I headed over to catch A$AP Rocky’s set at the Bacardi tent. Running slightly late, A$AP Rocky entered to a crowd that had been anticipating him for 20 minutes – by now it had reached its tipping point. An artist known for his appropriation of southern US’ style and culture, he was engulfed in purple and white lighting with visuals of money, jewellery and drug usage that the crowd may or may not have already partaken in.
Prior to the show, he led the audience in paying homage to the recently departed A$AP Yams: an individual who helped bring Rocky into the limelight that had left us too soon. Wearing a gaudily expensive Givenchy shirt with a Rottweiler on the front, Rocky performed many of his own songs, notably “Wassup,” “Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2,” and “Wild for the Night.”
As if we hadn’t already given our approval, he asked if it was cool if he could party with us before we collectively bounced to House of Pain’s “Jump Around,” Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and his close friend A$AP Ferg’s tracks “Shabba” and “Work.” He gave a shoutout to the earlier act ILoveMakonnen before closing out his set with the “Live.Love.A$AP” single “Goldie,” illuminated in golden lighting reminiscent of the hue of the album’s vinyl release.
The night’s closing, headlining set belonged to hometown-hero Joel Zimmerman, better known as Deadmau5. Showing up to the backstage area in his signature “Nyancat” Lamborghini, I knew he must’ve had something special in store. After a half-hour setup, Deadmau5’ stage was complete. Emerging in his signature “Mau5head” in black, he was contained in a spherical, clear contraption that almost looked as if he was within a hamster ball. As comic as that might have sounded, it worked – all the other elements of the stage design were circular in shape.
A panel of horizontal lights also filled the stage and flooded the crowd with pure, white light. Before removing his mask for one of the slower parts of his set, he delighted the crowd with one of his most popular songs, dating back to 2009: “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff.” Performing his style of progressive house that he built his namesake on, his set was less filled with bangers than it was with songs that were legitimately danceable.
The reaction from the crowd (through social media) seems to have been mixed, but it also seems to be black-or-white in whether people loved or hated it. This divide is unavoidable, however, as those who loved it are those who proclaim that they were “there for the music” and those who hated it were those simply looking for a reason to party like there’s no tomorrow. Though I wasn’t familiar with a lot of Deadmau5’ music, I found his mixing to be very smooth and seamless – tracks seemed to develop naturally to their peaks before transitioning to the next. Songs almost always started in an emotional or motivational manner before expanding and increasing in intensity in ways the listener wouldn’t have expected.
Regardless of where anyone stands on Deadmau5’ curation of music for the night, we can all agree that his technical mastery has earned him this spot; there was nothing wrong with his set that can’t be chalked up to one’s personal opinion of “good” or “bad” music. With day 1 of VELD 2015 officially wrapped, I snuck out and managed to escape the ensuing parking lot traffic jam and get in some well-needed rest for day 2.
