Music

PHOTOS & REVIEW: deadmau5 at the Rogers Centre

by Jesse Ship

Photos by: Randall Vasquez, AUX TV // Review by: Jesse Ship

Being the first Canadian to headline at the Rogers Centre is an achievement, especially when your supporting lineup is 95% Canadian as well. But more than just a happening of epic rave revival proportions (14,000 plus in attendance), the Meowington’s Hax Toronto leg of the deadmau5 tour was deserving of its own commemorative plaque, issued by the Rogers Centre its self.

It makes you wonder if any CanCon dollars helped fund this cat and mau5 game of a show. Regardless, it was a production that made you proud of Canadian music. With the exception of DJ Idris Elba, the odd man out on so many levels (British TV actor turned hip-hop producer turned house and techno dj, huh?), the lineup was consistent, with local favourites like eternal Guvernment openers Manzone & Strong, Toronto’s house music global ambassador Sydney Blu, Crystal Castles and MSTRKRFT who must have been persuaded by some divine force to return to their DJing duties.

While all the artists were in top form and each set ran seamlessly into each other, there was little they could do in their performances to compete with the power of the mau5 who stacked the odds heavily in his favour. Mid-way through MSTRKRFT’s bouncy electro set, where the duo notoriously made no nods to their debut Fist of God album, the dinky 16 bit lCD stage screens were replaced with Jumbotron proportion HD monitors. A great big cube-like pedestal was installed and little Deadmau5 scampered up, donning his newly designed Jim Henson Studios, Swiss cheese-inspired helmet.

The guy sure knows how to throw a party. With volume nobs cranked way higher than his supporting acts, what followed was a sound and light show rife with video game imagery, tentacles, Cthulus and Tron like space ships. You ain’t never seen geometric shapes until they’ve been projected onto the roof of the Rogers Centre

To the hordes of custom-made glow-stick-mouse-ears-headgear-wearing fans who mobbed the dance floor, or tacitly occupied the 100 level seats, there was no question whose set they would remember. At $50 a ticket, one might have questioned the value of the experience, but when 2 a.m. rolled around, after an encore, a sexed-up accompanying performance from wanna-be Riot Grrl Sofi (who had her own t-shirts on sale), and a surprise dancing ghost appearance, it’s unlikely anyone was left disappointed. But it’s possible many left with bizarre cravings for spiced gouda or creamy camembert.