Review by Kevin Donnellan
Uh-oh. The Luas is full of drunken teenagers. And it seems like these teenagers are all heading towards the O2. Plastic bottles filled with vodka abound. Some kids start singing ‘Let’s Go Fuckin Mental’ (a haunting Irish ballad if ever there was one) and most of the carriage joins in. I’m hit with flashbacks to teenage disco’s from my youth. “Will you meet my mate?” “Are you starting?”. Maybe it will be better at the venue, the older crowd will have got there already.
No such luck. The O2 is hosting a scene from the Apocalypse. Furry boots are everywhere. Everyone is hammered. A girl is propped against some railings passed out. I’m walking through the scenes of drunken madness like Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon, “I’m too old for this shit”.
However this is a gig review, not an account from a war-torn country (although it still feels like the latter). So how was it? Well Calvin Harris did what Calvin Harris does, then Deadmau5 did what Deadmau5 does. They were good. Deadmau5 is a pro, he had the crowd in the palm of his hand for the night and knew exactly what buttons to push. Here’s a quiet bit, immediately followed by a loud bit. Here’s a slow bit followed by an euphoric hands-in-the-air moment. Perfect music for dancing like a football hooligan. One finger pointed in the air while maintaining a facial expression of implacable hardness.
The new album was only released last week, 4 x 4 = 12. For a less dance-y act this could pose a problem with the crowd not familiar, and unsure how to react to, new material. No problems here, you sense that the guy could stick on ‘House Hits 2010’ and there would be no noticeable difference in audience reaction. They are here to party, to get out of their minds and to kiss random people with reckless abandon. Deadmau5 is just nudging them along.
So a good show, by a great DJ. The lighting was superb, the stage looked amazing. It was a good gig. But, but, but…just impossible to enjoy it if you weren’t a teenager with a shoulder of cheap vodka inside you.