Lasers, lights, & love with Zeds Dead doing Night One in Chicago

Zeds Dead recently took over the Wintrust Arena in Chicago for an entire weekend. We were lucky enough to cover the first of the two-night rager. Esseks opened up the night as the crowd slowly piled in out of the December cold. We could hear the bass rattling the building from the box office long before we made it inside. Esseks blessed the crowd with a heavy, distorted sound blending hip hop rhythms and experimental bass into a really raw and industrial vibe. The energy was slowly building up as the floor got more and more crowded.

Next up was Jade Cicada.

I remembered seeing him in a tiny club in Minneapolis a long time ago. We were so early that there was barely anyone there… I remember him getting mad and waving me away when I walked up to the DJ booth to take a video of him playing his set. But this night, Jade Cicada‘s set was light years away from that tiny little bar in the Twin Cities, letting his experimental glitch-hop bass music and visuals talk for themselves as he played his set from the shadows.

Of course, the main act of the night was Zeds Dead and, boy, did the Canadian duo bring an insane show! Their set was broader in genre than the earlier acts of the night. What started as a plodding journey through Esseks’ glitchy bass to the more psychedelic dance party of Jade Cicada became an insane laser light show that did not disappoint. Zeds Dead’s set was full of remixes, especially of old-school hip hop hits from artists like Eminem, Dre, and Biggie. The hour-and-a-half set had something for everyone, with topnotch production to match. These guys’ shows just keep getting bigger and better, and if they ever take over an arena in your city, you’d be a fool to miss it!

Photography by Sean Rider

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