[EVENT REVIEW] Kx5 at the Los Angeles Coliseum

Kaskade and Deadmau5 have proven time and again that they are in it for the long game. Their music was the gateway to techno for so many of us back in the late 2000s before ‘EDM’ was even a word in the discourse. Many of us had our first rave experiences with these two artists. And we have come to associate them so closely together in our minds and hearts. 

The two music producers of Kx5 (Ryan Raddon and Joel Zimmerman) gave a back to back set of Olympic proportions. Their performance was fueled with over a decade of their combined work, massive pyrotechnics and coordinated drone displays. The stadium was a roar with beanie clad Los Angelenos, fitted with ponchos, dancing in a rare desert rain. John Summit, Anna Lunoe, and Triple XL opened. 

In a back to back set, the two DJs work together to mix songs in and out and create a synergistic experience. Kx5 showed great care in working together and feeding off the crowds energy to give back the juju that we were all craving. Adding to the complexity of live intuitive tandem DJ sets: the sound engineers, lighting designers, and pyrotechnoids all need to coordinate with the DJs to allow these moments to pop off at their highest possible zenith.

Long story short. They did. 

The Los Angeles Coliseum hosted the Olympics in 1984. Behind the stage was the Olympic flame burning beautifully under the waning moon. The massive stadium was full of people wrapped around the open field. A place where competitors from all over the world once came to compete on the world stage. 

On this night, we came to dance.