Photographs by Dakota Arsenault.
Echo Beach greeted us with bright sunshine and warm rays for Skrillex’s Full Flex Express stop in Toronto this past Saturday. The massive stage towered over thousands of ravers ready for a beautiful day full of bass, beers, and beautiful beaches.
We started the afternoon with Mija and Anna Lunoe pairing up on the side booth of the stage. These two beautiful DJs always know exactly how to get a crowd ready for the day, calling out to their fans as they pumped out tracks like Yo Majesty’s “Club Action (Smookie Illson remix)” and Rustie’s remix of “Beautiful” by A.G. Cook, personally one of my favourite tracks right now. The visuals were reminiscent of Zed’s Dead’s “Lost You” music video, a graffiti-like mix of trippy visuals displaying both DJ’s logos. Mija sported her trademark turquoise hair, while Anna Lunoe reached into the crowd and snagged a Canadian flag to show her support for the Canadian tour.
Hundred Waters had me pretty excited; I wasn’t as familiar with them as I was with the other performers of the day. It was a live performance, with a drummer, keyboardist, vocalist and electronic drumpad player, which allowed for some amazing basslines. The tone was very mellow; it almost seemed out of place for a hype music tour, but they had beautifully constructed songs and amazing chemistry between the band mates. Nicole Miglis, the band’s vocalist, wore a skin tight white outfit and danced along with each song. One of my favourite of their original tracks is “Innocent,” a strange, slow paced track that sums up the reason behind Skrillex signing them to his OWSLA record label.
The next performer was Tycho, and I was told to prepare myself for an amazing performance. Throughout their performance I was reminded of a lot of indie bands, such as Metric, which I grew up listening to. It has that ambient, relaxed feel to it. There was no pressure to go crazy to a bass drop, and all throughout the crowd everyone just danced together. Just take a minute and listen to their track “Awake,” off their album of the same name. You know what? Just listen to that entire album. Do it. It’s fantastic.
After two acts with full bands, A$AP Ferg came out to mix it up a bit, as he was the only hip-hop act on the tour. He wore a tee shirt that commemorated the recently departed ASAP Yams, founder and architect of the ASAP crew. Ferg prowled back and forth across the stage performing his unique brand of trap hip-hop (he calls himself the Trap Lord) and spit some very aggressive songs. He had hyperactive hype man Marty to balance out his deep drawl, calling out to the crowd. Ferg played his hits “Work” and “Shabba” among others during his brief set. Normally the popular Skrillex and ASAP Rocky song “Wild For The Night” is done as a tribute in his set, but it went unplayed.
Keisza is an artist who I’m familiar with from her appearances as the vocalist in tracks such as “Take U There” by Jack U, or “Triggerfinger” by donkeyboy. Her pop-style and house-influenced music had me smiling throughout her entire set! She wore multicolored leggings and had two backup dancers on stage with her. It amazed me that she could dance as hard as she did while hitting perfect notes and keeping her breath. She ended her set with the crowd favourite “Hideaway”, and the deep house fanatic in me went crazy with a desire to break out into a shape-cutting dance move that I know I can’t do.
Zeds Dead…I mean what can I say? The duo once again opened with their namesake – the dialogue from the movie Pulp Fiction. They screamed at the crowd about how excited they were to be playing in their hometown, and jumped right into their set with new renditions of their popular songs. Kove’s remix of “Lost You” and Hunter Seigel’s remix of “Where Are You Now”, which is one of my favourite from Zeds Dead’s recent setlists. I was pleasantly floored when one of their most frequent collaborators came out to do a few tracks with them – Omar Linx. They ended with some of their more chillstep influenced songs, and the crowd prepared for the main headliner…
Jack U had one of the weirdest, most energetic shows I’ve ever seen. They started by bringing Kiesza back out on stage with her dancers to perform “Take U There,” while yellow toned lights and lasers light up the sky. As Keisza left, they brought out Kai, a frequent collaborator of Diplo’s music. They performed “Revolution,” an early Diplo hit, while he screamed, “Toronto let me see you wild the fuck out!” Then Skrillex made his way to the front of the stage, collapsed, and it was up to the crowd to scream loud enough to bring him back to life. They threw in a little of Skrillex’s original dubstep tracks, a little of Diplo’s trap influenced style, and then of course…the theme from The Lion King. Obviously?
Full Flex this year was an amazing experience, an exclusively Canadian tour with more variety then your average electronic music festival. Come back next year, eh?
Thanks to Embrace Presents for media access.
