Skrillex in Ottawa - WOW!

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This was my view of Skrillex at Ottawa Bluesfest:

And this is my view from Ritual later that night:

It's hard to put into words how much of a good time I had last night as Skrillex put on a mind-blowing show and really gave his all to please the crowd. Skrillex' energy was infectious as it appeared that the entire Bluefest crowd was giving just as much energy and love back to him in a high powered set that surpasses the energy level of most if not all major DJs I've seen. Skrillex is really a maestro out there as he commanded total control of the crowd from his spaceship DJ cockpit reminiscent of an old Star Wars film which later levitated 10-20ft above the stage.

The night was filled with almost everything Skrillex as he played tracks from his Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites and Bangarang albums. He also exhibited flawless mixing without the use of his former Ableton Live/laptop setup from last year. Is he proving to everyone that he isn't just pressing play? Well if he is then he proved it beyond all doubt on Saturday as Skrillex was rocking it out with 2 USB sticks, 2 CDJs, headphones and a mixer. My personal set highlight was when he played his Kill Everybody track and mashed it up with Knife Party's Internet Friends drop that just messed me up in a very good way. What also worked well was the use of all his moombathon tracks such as Make it Bum Dem track collab with Damian "JR. Gong" Marley. If it couldn't get any better Skrillex actually played my all time number one Beastie Boys track Sabotage that had me singing to the top of my lungs.

Unfortunately I decided that I needed to duck out 25 minutes early in order to hightail it over to the Ritual Nightclub so I could be one of the 100 Bluesfest band holders that got free entry into Skrillex' official after party later that night. It was almost physically painful to leave such an electric atmosphere but luckily my gamble paid off as I managed to be one of the last few to get in for free. I had no idea what to expect from the second part of the night; will Skrillex only show up for a few minutes and play a couple tracks or will he give us rabid fans a proper set? Well the answer came around 12:30 am as Skrillex suddenly showed up totally amped up and ready to take over from Koan Sound who played a fun and eclectic set. The difference of seeing Skrillex so far away at the Bluesfest stage to having him perform in such an intimate venue like at Ritual was massive. At Bluesfest you were confronted with an assault of the senses as the whole stage setup took you on visual journey into Skrillex' music; at Ritual I felt like I was treated with a special performance between himself and a few hundred of his friends. Skrillex completely immersed himself in his set that had everyone jumping up and down in excitement. I'm not quite sure how else to explain it because you really needed to be there to understand how great Ritual was that night. I'm a big fan of Skrillex' video tour of South America so when he dropped Dream - This isn't House at Ritual I went nuts.

The next day Skrillex complimented Ottawa and its fans in absolutely one of the best ways possible:

 

Thanks Skrillex and to everyone that came out and made it special.