30 Apr West Palm Beach Gets Caked
I have had the pleasure of seeing the long-hair, electro house god Steve Aoki five or six times. I’ve honestly lost count a bit.
The first time I saw Aoki was at Ultra Music Festival in 2010. The pool float riding, high jumping, champagne spraying, wild man made quite the impression on South Beach, and fans. In all the times I’ve seen him since (always at festivals) his shows only grow bigger, more insane, and more unpredictable.
Last night, Aoki brought his biggest tricks and talent to West Palm Beach for the first time.
“We’re here to party all night long,” Aoki screamed, a top a massive, flickering platform. “If you came to rage, scream!”
The sea of glow sticks, flowery crop tops, and “Cake Me” signs before him bellowed back. The sound last night was one of the most deafening I’ve heard at SunFest. So much so, I may have an eardrum out of commission today. (My own fault, yes. And don’t worry, my right side is the best side.)
Photo by Chris Salata for Sunfest | Copyright 2016
Starting the night with Prince’s famous life quote, Aoki wasted no time putting on a SHOW. Within the first 10 minutes, we had flames exploding in sync with the beats, gusts of steam, and long, yellow streamers/confetti floating over the crowd. Not a single person was standing still. Not even the security guards protecting fans from the flames. (I saw you dancing.)
The youthful crowd twisted and flowed with the music, as we were all swallowed by the sounds. After weeks of studying and finals, this was the perfect show to sweat out all the stress and strife that life holds. Swirling behind Aoki were celestial images, haunting White Walker-like images of his face, and graphics that could have been pulled straight from Tron.
Photo by Chris Salata for Sunfest | Copyright 2016
Aoki spent the evening teasing new material, our favorite hits, and mash-ups of other chart-topping songs and sounds. We had the pleasure of hearing one of his latest hits, “Can’t Go Home,” featuring Adam Lambert, as well as samples from:
- The Lion King’s opening “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba Sithi uhm ingonyama”
- Titantic’s “My Heart Will Go On,” backed by visuals of Aoki’s face photoshopped on Jack and Rose’s
- Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money”
- Darude’s “Sandstorm”
- Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness”
- The Weeknd’s “The Hills,” and
- Adele’s “Hello,” which sound shockingly good with a big drop
Photo by Chris Salata for Sunfest |Copyright 2016
“Do you guys want to be in my SnapChat story,” Aoki called out to the crowd. Strolling out to the catwalk, he snapped multiple stories with fans and fanatics.
Aoki would sooner after return to the catwalk with multiple bottles of champagne that he sprayed out over the crowd, pausing to guzzle a bit back himself. Fire exploded from the stage, another burst of confetti rained down over us.
“This is the kind of crowd I want to perform to every single night,” the DJ said. “Do you want some cake?”
Photo by Chris Salata for Sunfest |Copyright 2016
Oh, yes. We wanted cake.
There were ten cakes, to be exact. Aoki, known for his sweet tooth and shot put, pushed massive sheet cakes into wailing fans faces. One girl, just a few feet to my right, was obliterated by the dessert. Friends and fellow concert goers cheered for her win, and helped drag frosting out of her hair.
Photo by Chris Salata for Sunfest | Copyright 2016
SunFest continues to bring giant EDM artists to West Palm. Kaskade put on one hell of a performance last year, Pretty Lights was a treat, and Life in Color with Morgan Page was one of my favorite shows ever…until now. Who could possibly beat Aoki for the best EDM performance? Only time will tell.