Avicii @ Radio City

"Levels"and "Fade Into Darkness" are so amazing that I swallowed my extreme discomfort and purchased four orchestra seats to Avicii.  On a school night no less. Of course, I brought along a couple of beards in addition to Thom, who enjoys EDM as much as I do. 

I could have grandfathered much of the crowd. But even Magda and Joe are a little long in the teeth compared to most of the fans.

It's hard to photoblog about a concert although thousands of people with mobile phones had plenty to say throughout a 90-minute performance. 

Suffice it to say that I'm probably one of the few people in the audience who recognized "Baba O'Reilly" as Avicii welcomed the crowd with a keening sample from Roger Daltrey, woven into "Fade Into Darkness" that totally nailed the audience:  teenage wasteland indeed!

I wondered how a very young DJ would hold the attention of an audience in a venue as large as Radio City, where ushers made sure that no one could rush the stage.  Avicii's production team did it by putting his booth atop a huge head and a light show every bit as psychedelic as an acid trip.  

Everybody went crazy when Avicii played "Levels" and the purple lips on the head began lipsynching Etta James.  Girl could sing even if she wasn't as pretty as Beyonce in Cadillac Records (great movie, btw)!  Too bad the photo doesn't quite capture the artistry of the effect.