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Written by Brian Cheli Sunday, 24 March 2013 12:29

The set looked like a bunker made out of boomboxes, and mish-mashed with various speaker systems.

 

 

Photos: Cencio Boc

Major Lazer’s show at The Pageant was the perfect place for St. Louis to get down and dirty. The electro-dancehall DJ trio pumped out some of the most original moombahton, dubstep, and trap music around. They simply made it their own, a technique that sadly, many DJs fail to understand. Diplo (the founding member) is now accompanied on stage by Walshy Fire and Jillionaire. The three spent equal parts behind the decks so that they could come out and amp up the audience with confetti guns, colorful banners, and Major Lazer himself.

The set looked like a bunker made out of boomboxes, and mish-mashed with various speaker systems (just for show, assumedly). The group was accompanied by two other members, a hype man and a sleek ’n’ sexy dancer. The two worked the crowd with ease with the help of Diplo prancing atop their speaker bunker, rallying the troops by waving his flag with the words “Free the Universe” (the title of their upcoming album) from side to side.

Wayne Coyne would have been proud of Diplo’s showmanship when he climbed inside of the giant hamster ball and surfed the fans that seemed to be foaming at the mouth only 20 minutes into the set. Some of the other antics they used to get the house shaking were cutting “Harlem Shake” (because we the crowd wasn’t excited enough, and asking everyone to take off their shirts and throw them across the room. A surprising number of people complied, leaving a lot of fans either shirtless or left with a new wardrobe.

The crowd was most involved when Major Lazer invited about 20 girls on stage to help them perform “Bubble Butt.” The stage didn’t look like it could handle that much booty. Displaying varying levels of regret, some of the women gave it their all, while others headed for the exit. With only moderate levels of public indecency, they said, “We’ve done this in a lot of cities, and it doesn’t always work. But there’s a lot of booty in the house tonight—and St. Louis ladies know how to work that booty.”

Some of the night’s highlights were “Pon de Floor,” “Mary Jane”—which sounds like a Balkan marching band of sorts—and “Jump Up.” Along with the hits everyone expected, their set was interspersed with cult classics like “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Sweet Dream,” and “Insane in the Membrane,” which had the spasmodic main floor moving just as fast. As the lights came up after a set which lasted nearly two hours, a mixture of both ecstasy and sadness, knowing that it was over, was written across the fans’ faces. | Brian Cheli

Photos: Cencio Boc