Madeon @ Second Sky

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Madeon’s set at Second Sky was one of the most anticipated. He was second only to Porter Robinson, himself, in terms of how excited people were. The reason? We’re all hungry for new Madeon. And we had it on Good Faith (sorry, I’ll stop) that he might drop something new during his DJ set.

And…he kind of did. There wasn’t any unreleased music from album two, but he started and ended the set with ‘All My Friends’ which was really exciting. To be there the first time that song was performed…it was amazing.

We also got entirely new visuals. It was extremely colorful. The vibe of the Good Faith Era is definitely one of color. There were also symbols similar to The Architects logo that was revealed to the Pixel Empire Podcast all those many months ago. And there was a lot to do with what appears to be Greek architecture–moving through a maze of columns. Not to get too heavy into the ongoing ARG, but this all continues to point to the importance of Daedalus. (We’re hungry for more information, Hugo, please throw us a bone)

The best part about the show, however, was how much fun he was having. You could just tell there was a constant smile on his face as he danced and played music for fun. This was technically his first show of the year, and it was very evident how much it meant to him.

The music itself wasn’t much different from his New Years Eve set that he played at the Brownies and Lemonade Party. This includes the stunningly beautiful ID that we’re all begging him to put on album two. It’s the one that transitions into Arctic Monkeys. Can’t get enough of it. There was also a lot of Adventure music, of course. Feels like a fond and final farewell to that era. There was a lot of that going on at Second Sky, which isn’t a bad thing by any means. It’s good to say goodbye. His inclusion of ‘Sincerity is Scary’ by The 1975 was a welcome addition. It fit the mood.

His Day Two set differed slightly from his Day One set. Both were enjoyable, but Day Two had the inclusion of some ‘Ghost Voices’. This caused Virtual Self himself (Porter) to dance out of the wings. Then Porter ran out and sat behind the DJ booth for a while. It’s anyone’s guess what the two of them talked about while Hugo ducked down, but my guess is there was a lot of laughter and smiling faces.

Another difference was Skrillex. Hugo stopped his set to gush about the famed producer. Talking about how he was so excited that he was the secret guest, and how much he meant to him. So he would play his favorite Skrillex song…that had been released. “My favorite music is the stuff he hasn’t released yet!” this again caused someone to join him on stage. Sonny Moore himself ran out, camera in hand. He even stopped to take pictures with the crowd. It was a real party on Day Two.

It was a joy getting to see him perform. And even more so to see him having so much fun. These two shows really set the bar high for the upcoming Good Faith tour. If a DJ set can incite that much excitement and joy from the crowd and from Hugo himself, the live show is going to be tenfold.