Skrillex The Mothership Tour

I know this is a late post because this event has come and gone, but the lease I can do is share some photies with you.
There is something so amazing about standing at the foot of a huge electronic stage with bass flowing through your body, pulsating through every fibre. The media rules were pretty strict at this event. No mono-pods, no flash, we could only be in the pit for the first 9 minutes (due to the pyrotechnics and the fact that we would get burned). But hell I didn't care. Not only did I get to see Skrillex, but I was lucky enough to see his mentor 12th Planet. Let me tell you, trying to take pictures without a flash when you have beats pumping through your body is crazy hard (and I am short), so forgive me please for these shots.

Here is the article page I did. For those of you unable to enlarge, I transcribed the article below, you know, in case you wanted to read it!

I wrote, photographed and designed this page for The Weekend Witness 9th March 2013.

AS soon as I stepped into the The Wavehouse arena that had been especially converted for The Mothership Tour, I knew I was about to witness something special.

The atmosphere was electric, with fans having come from all over KwaZulu-Natal to see the DJ who calls himself Skrillex perform for the first time on African soil.

To be a journalist is to be a voyeur; you have to separate yourself from the action in order to fully understand the spectacle. A journalist will be behind the pictures and behind the story; it is her job to expose the story in such a way as to transport the audience to the scene of the action, to entertain, to tell stories and to enlighten.

However, as I found myself among thousands of spectators on Sunday, I could not help but be swept up in all the excitement.

We were all there to witness one of the world’s leading electronic dance music pioneers in action. I could barely contain my excitement.

Not only would I get to hear him perform, but I would be among a few people to get close enough to see him perform.

There was much debate as to how much performing Skrillex would actually be doing on Sunday. The new generation of electronic DJs travel light. Often their instruments consist of no more than an Apple Mac and a thumb drive. Luckily, the South African audience was treated to a full hour-and-a-half performance involving a VJ (video jockey), pyrotechnics and Skrillex mixing and performing his own songs.

This year, Skrillex firmly cemented himself as a musical force to be reckoned with when he won three Grammys for best dance recording and best dance/electronic album for Bangarang, as well as best mixed recording for Promises.

Overall he is a six-time Grammy winner, which places him in the same category as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Adele, The Police and The Eagles. More importantly, he has outdone other electronic Grammy winners such as The Chemical Brothers (four awards), Daft Punk and David Guetta (two awards each).

But where did this man come from? For many, Skrillex has become the name at the forefront of digital music, but very few of his fans know him by his name, Sonny Moore. This 25-year-old musician started his musical career in 2004, when he performed as the lead singer of the post-hardcore band From First to Last, with which he recorded two albums. After having undergone a vocal surgical procedure, Moore left the band in 2007 to pursue a solo career. He released the EP Gypsyhook in 2009 under the alias Twipz, and then planned to record the album Bells with producer Noah Shain. But this album was never made and Moore began performing under the name Skrillex.

He gained commercial success after releasing My Name is Skrillex and Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites for free download on his MySpace page in 2010. In November 2011, Skrillex was nominated for five Grammy Awards and won three.

Pivotal to his success is the fact that Skrillex, much like other artists in his field, produces his own work and releases it for free. In this way he is able to bypass piracy laws, allowing for a larger audience reach.

Just how far his musical reach stretches became all too clear as I stood among thousands of my peers who were chanting the name of this young Californian DJ who has changed the face of music.

“This is really crazy for me, man,” said Skrillex, accepting the first award in 2012.

“I made this song in my bedroom when I was living illegally in a warehouse in downtown LA.”

He went on to tweet: If I can win Grammys then that means all you yet to be seen bedroom geniuses will one day TAKEOVER THE WORLD!”

• alexandra.patrick@witness.co.za