We were lucky enough to be in attendance at Odesza's Red Rocks show this past Sunday night. The duo was supported by Pomo, Tennyson and FKJ, all of which were absolutely spectacular. While the weather did not clear up for the crowd on Saturday, Sunday ended up being clear and breezy. It was the perfect environment. Odesza took the stage at 10:15 and for the next hour and a half put on a master class, demonstrating what all live performance in electronic music should strive for.
New, Old and Unidentified Music Throughout the Night
Harrison and Clay came out heavy and immediately announced that they would be starting out with there older hits. Over the next twenty minutes a flurry of classics from their remix of Beat Connection's ‘Saola' to their massive smash hit, ‘Say My Name' were played out.
Soon though, to the fans incredible excitement they started to play out new music. Their latest release, ‘Late Night', took the crowd to a point of frenzy. A literal mountain of people all moved in ecstatic unison as the shimmering synths blasted from the speakers. It was euphoria on a tantalizingly large scale. Everyone smiled as they threw their hands in the air.
WYNNE, whose birthday was on Sunday, came out and performed ‘Line of Sight', the duos other new single, live. Throughout the set Odesza debuted incredible new tracks. We captured three of them and are happy to share them with you below. The last video features an ID that goes into ‘Bloom' with the live performance by the Odesza drumline.
Remixes Everywhere
Odesza played out all of their signature remixes over the course of the night. As mentioned above their Saola remix electrified the crowd as did they edits of Porter's ‘Divinity' and Hayden James ‘Something About You'. Their remix of ZHU‘s ultra smash hit, ‘Faded' provided for a chillingly beautiful sing along moment, as the sold out Red Rocks crowd sang together in harmony to the tracks chorus.
What was unexpected was the live remix of ‘Memories That You Call' played out halfway through the night. The duo's most underrated track got a dark rework that threw the crowd into a frenzy with intense bass and percussion. It was entirely out of the blue and changed the tone of the concert to bass driven, until the drumline came out to break the tension with ‘IPlayYouListen'.
Odesza Sit High and Mighty In Electronic Music, Grammy Predictions Seem Obvious
Last year I was at Red Rocks in late August and saw Flume perform his gorgeous, Grammy winning album, ‘Skin'. The crowd was obviously enveloped in the experience. But compared to what was witnessed this past Sunday it seems almost trivial. Odesza has quietly, without drama made their way to the top of the electronic music pyramid. They have become the gold standard in both production and live performance.
Having heard many of the cuts from their yet to be announced new album, one thing comes to mind – it will be a Grammy contender. It is always a bit worrisome when a group releases a follow up to an album that was extraordinary. ‘In Return' was one of the best electronic music albums of all time. So naturally it is nerve wracking waiting to see if they would be able to match or top their sophomore effort. Odesza has demonstrated so with ease they have navigated the difficulties their third LP. Their new, soon to be named album will once again change how we all listen to and judge music.
Check out these gorgeous pictures from the weekend below, courtesy of Juilan Bajsel.
