Deadmau5 at Hollywood Palladium

Last October I flew to San Francisco for Treasure Island Music Festival to see the legend that is formally known as Deadmau5. I was blown away by the positive crowd, intricate lighting, and his incredible song selection. However, when his set was cut short before even an hour, I was beyond devastated. Since the release of his album 4X4=12, which was a completely different style than the Canadian's usual electro hits, I still hadn't seen Zimmerman a second time but was elated upon hearing about his four-show residency at the Hollywood Palladium.

I was hoping that Friday's set would include some of his older upbeat tracks such as Hi Friend and Attention Whore, but Deadmau5's style has completely changed and he decided to take a different approach.  He only played songs that he produced/co-produced, which is really no surprise with his wide selection of bangers. The set included predictable hits such as The Reward is Cheese, Ghosts n Stuff, Raise Your Weapon, and Sofi Need a Ladder (Sofi even came out on stage to sing her part).

He started off the night in a neon green head and after a brief breather finished the set in a badass all-white version. The visuals were imaginative featuring images of his well-known cat Prof. Meowingtons over a game of Mario Brothers and backlit LED lighting spelling out words such as "Lets Do It LIVE" when Joel put his impressive live-mixing skills to use. He played for a full two hours but the energy was substandard and mildly melancholy. I actually preferred Zedd, the opening DJ, with his upbeat song selections such as Alesso's remix of Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO, a mashup of Wolfgang's Undertaker vs. 5th Symphony, and Avicii's Levels (ID). I was also thrilled to hear his popular remixes of Skrillex's Weekends and Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites which are far preferred over the originals.

Some favorites of the night from Deadmau5 include his mashup of Some Chords mixed with Tiny Dancer, Animal Rights feat. Wolfgang Gartner, and his edit of Daft Punk's Harder Better Faster Stronger. Also heavily influenced by Skrillex, he chose lots of dubstep (the Caspa remix of Kaskade & Deadmau5's I Remember) and trance-like inspired jams. Mau5 gave the mediocre set an even duller ending by closing with a drawn-out and extremely ineffective version of Strobe. Hopefully Zimmerman realizes soon that fans come to his shows to dance - not sleep.