Porter Robinson Announces Massive New Virtual Self Show To Kick Off 2019

After the smashing success of his spinoff project Virtual Self, Porter Robinson is kicking off the new year with a show at the esteemed Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles in February. After receiving a Grammy nomination for “Ghost Voices,” it is no doubt that Porter plans to come back with a bang and once again blow the minds of all audience goers. It is the hope of many as well that he will debut new music, especially with the Grammy’s arriving the day following the show.

For anyone who’s been sleeping on Virtual Self, here’s the quick rundown: this isn’t Porter Robinson easing into a side project for fun. It’s a full identity shift. Where Porter built his name on glittering, emotional dance-pop, Virtual Self dives into the murkier, more aggressive corners of trance, hardcore, and early 2000s eurodance nostalgia, dressed up with a cyberpunk, glitchy visual world to match. The project landed with real force in 2017, and “Ghost Voices” quickly became one of its defining moments, so the Grammy nod for Best Dance Recording wasn’t exactly a shock to anyone who’d been paying attention. It was, however, a huge validation moment for a sound that a lot of purists initially dismissed as a gimmick.

Porter Robinson is originally known for his track “Say My Name” on the OWSLA label as well as his tracks “Language” and “Vandalism”. He then went on to create the truly beautiful album Worlds which received worldwide acclaim for its more mature and refined sound. With the inception of Virtual Self in 2017, Robinson has now focused his craft on a darker and more intensive sound which shows his true ability to innovate.

The Shrine Expo Hall itself is no small booking, either. It’s one of LA’s go-to rooms for artists who’ve outgrown a club but aren’t quite ready for an arena, and it’s hosted its fair share of memorable dance music nights over the years. Pairing that room with Virtual Self’s over-the-top production style, complete with the alter ego’s now-signature masked, faceless aesthetic, sets up what’s shaping up to be one of the more anticipated club shows of early 2019 for the LA scene. Demand ended up proving that out: the show sold out fast enough that Robinson tacked on a second Shrine Expo Hall date just two days earlier to accommodate the overflow of fans who missed out on the first round of tickets.

Tickets will be available for the pre-show soon and you can sign up here.