Skrillex in Shanghai

It’s been confirmed finally that Skrillex will indeed be playing in Shanghai, at Club  G+ on Nov 10th. And tickets are…680 rmb. Yeah. 680 rmb. That’s, uh…more than $100. To see Skrillex. To see Skrillex push play on his Macbook? I’m not sure entirely what he does. It’s a pretty big booking, though, especially as he’s playing on a Saturday night. We get big DJs on a fairly regular basis, but often they come through on a weekday night on their way to Tokyo or coming back from Hong Kong or something like that, so it is pretty cool to have him playing on a Saturday. But Jesus, 680 rmb? Yeah…I don’t think that’s gonna happen for me.

A few weeks ago I saw an interview with DJ Tiësto where he told the interviewer that he’d made $24 million dollars last year. I was kind of bumbling around my hotel room, not really paying all that much attention to the TV till I heard “24 million” and I stopped and thought, “A DJ?? A DJ made 24 million dollars??!” And then I looked up the music he played and again I was like, “24 million dollars??” I honestly didn’t see how it was possible. And then I realized that I’d definitely gone into the wrong industry. I guess people like to pay for an experience, though (as do I), and a lot of club music is about the experience, not exactly the song. I mean, the music is important, but maybe they aren’t suffering from the same digital woes as a lot of other artists because people aren’t so interested in illegally downloading their music to play at home (though I’m sure loads do), but more so about going to a club to hear it live and loud with lots of people and drugs and alcohol and dancing until you’re exhausted. So it’s the experience you’re paying for, not the music.

DJs are a mixed bunch, really. I hear some stuff that’s brilliant–it’s awe-inspiring what they can do with a computer and a mixing board a some records. And then I hear others who do nothing but run an R&B song through a software program to add more bass and they get resident spots at huge clubs. And they’re both put into the same category even though they’re very much not the same at all.

Anyway, I’ve never much cared for dubstep (gasp! hiss! blasphemy!) because I can’t dance to it and also, I can think of other things I’d rather do with 680 rmb, so I’ll be missing Skrillex. Though I was told yesterday (by a very angry person) that I shouldn’t say Skrillex plays dubstep because dubstep isn’t shit. So there’s another guy who probably won’t see him either. But it’s a big booking, so hopefully there will be a good audience who does turn out. Actually, Club G+ has been pulling some pretty big bookings lately, so it’s looking good for people who want to see some bigger and more mainstream names.

Also, am I the only one who thinks that Skrillex is a dead ringer for Corey Feldman?