The night started off like any other at the Palladium, walking into an already foggy venue with party goers sweaty and pumped up. Only tonight was a little different, there was a line waiting to get in, about 150 people more than the normal 25 person line. This meant one thing – people were excited to see Prydz! No worries though, the line went quick; 10 minutes tops.
For those of you who don’t know the Palladium, shows go until 4am. Alcohol sales stop at 2 per California law, but music keeps going. I was thrown a curve ball at midnight when Eric Prydz, the headliner went on. I fully expected to see Arty open for Eric, instead of Arty closing.
Anywho, with the crowd nicely warmed up by Jeremy Orlander, Eric Prydz took the stage. He started with very melodic progressive house tracks. Easing the crowd into his set, he played tracks from all his various pseudonyms including Cirez D and Pryda. Prydz transitioned into some fantastic vocal sing-a-longs including his track Sweet Genesis (Genesis vs Sweet Dreams).
Eric’s mixing and transitions were smooth as butter. One second he is playing” Juletider”, released under Pryda, then without anyone realizing the songs were not produced as one,” You” (interlude) is mixed in and out into “Pjanoo”. Really an amazing showcase of mixing.
Prydz continued to show off his mixing skills with more fantastic original beats. About 3/4s through with his set he played another sing-a-long and classic (produced in 2001!!) Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk. After playing On Off, produced as Cirez D, Prydz requested that the crowd “Sit the fuck down!” As expected the crowd did as asked, except for those few people who were clearly WAY too cool to follow directions. On the drop of a brand new song yet to be ID’d, the crowd jumped up in unison into a blast of CO2 from canons firing in all directions. Up in the front there was a complete white-out as I was unable to see anyone, even those directly in front of me.
Prydz finished off his set with We Are The Mirage, his work with Empire of the Sun. A great vocal piece and progressive house mix to leave the crowd wanting more.
Arty came on at 2am and instantly hit the crowd hard with a remix of Porter Robinson’s Spitfire. Arty provided the crowd with some great Anjunabeats sound. Arty worked the crowd by starting strong and heavy with multiple Porter Robinson remixes and many classic tracks like Punk by Ferry Corsten.
Arty’s set was the perfect way to close out a night of great music. Even by the end of Arty’s set (4am), the dance floor was still packed with many people going just as hard as earlier in the night.
Many Prydz fans were highly disappointed that he did not play his 2004 hit Call On Me. I for one find myself in slight dismay as this song would have been a blast to sing and dance to. However, I in no way feel as though it would have made his set better (I am not sure anything could have made his set better). In fact, playing Call On Me may have made the set too cliche. What do you think?
