‘Explosive’ light show complements Avicii’s electro-House beats
From the sweat-induced front-stagers to the 21-and-up inebriated elite, there was no difference in enthusiasm or electricity among the audience throughout the show.
With his right arm pounding to the ceiling, Tim Bergling, or Avicii, as he is known on-stage, wowed the sold-out Pageant concert venue and his fan base with an exhilarating show on Tues., Jan. 10.
Avicii plays to an ambiguous genre of music, which mixes House with electronic sounds. He is regarded as the sixth best disc jockey in the world, according to djmag.com.
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Avicii has a loyal and unpredictable fan base. His audience spans from teenagers to the awkward-aged fans that insist on going to clubs past the point of acceptability. But, I digress.
Unlike any concert I have attended, there was more to the music than the lyrics. In fact, most of the lyrics were not original— they were mixes of other songs, put into the unique sound format for which Avicii is renowned.
Upon my entrance to the show, I was informed that glow sticks were not allowed, but as the performance went on, it was apparent that they were completely unnecessary. The light show was as impressive as the music, even to an avid fan. Light shows that accompany concerts, as a general rule, can be entertaining and supplementary to the main performance, but this show proved that common law to be outdated.
The light show acted as a co-star to Avicii in a way that displayed the general feelings of the audience through the spectrum of colors and light movement. I had the sneaking suspicion that if I blocked out the music, I could still feel the same emotions that I equate with the music alone. It was as if I was witnessing a generational evolution of the concert format.
The atmosphere was thick and intense, from those that stood at the front of the stage to those at the bar, requesting that the bartenders oblige their every request.
Avicii has created a following with his most popular original songs “Fade into Darkness,” “Seek Bromance” and, the most popular of the group, “Levels.” The casual listener can hear “Levels” in clubs and bars, because it is a common background that many disc jockeys have come to utilize for mixes.
The climax of the show was, unsurprisingly, when “Levels” was played. Everyone in the crowd knew the song, and it was almost like Avicii was pulling thousands of strings from the ceiling. Everyone raised their arms in unison and did a repeated triceps extension, coupled with a rhythmic jumping action.
One couldn’t help but follow the crowd— it felt natural to express enthusiasm in this way, as if the audience was taking in electricity through their arms, and allowing the electricity to percolate through their bodies.
The party had officially reached maximum intensity with the light show that waved different colors on opposite ends of the DJ’s booth— as well as spotlights on the stage itself— and flashed slower as it reached the calm of the song. It then exploded with flashing white lights when the storm of music, bass and lights reached a peak.
The audience did its best impression of electronic sounds during a well-known chorus: nuh nuh nuh . . . nuh . . . nuh nuh nuh . . . nuh.
As I would later discover, I had not the opportunity to think about reality or the outside world. The show was an escape from the real worldfrom 9 p.m. to midnight. The performance made it difficult to disallow the intoxicating sounds into one’s soul.
For whatever personal reasons that each fan embraces the sound of Avicii, be it the repetitious-but-not-tiring sounds, the exotic use of basesor the absence of words to provide for a more open-ended interpretation by the listener, the audience would not rather have been anywhere but at The Pageant that night.
