Concert Review

Artist: DJ Steve Aoki

Date: November 7^th, 2008

Venue: Coda Social Club

City: Montreal, QC

Reviewed by: Amanda Wenek (Montreal Correspondent)

DJ Steve Aoki ‘Kid Millionaire’ is one of the hottest DJs out of Hollywood and he gave Montreal the dance party of a lifetime this past Wednesday night. Coda Social Club hosted the hot commodity and he lived up to his much-revered reputation. He has an ear for pairing hot dance beats with just the right lyrical touch, and he is not afraid of any genre; the musical stylings of Friday night ranged from hardcore rock, to old school rock, to electro, to house.

Duvall, the man who entertains you every Friday at Coda with The Fix, hit the stage before Aoki. He didn’t definitely held his own considering the company he was keeping. He mostly played house and techno with a few remixed oldies but goodies, and by the time he was finished with the turntables the crowd was pumped.

Aoki came to the stage, head down and laptop under his arm, and the entire place went nuts. Girls were screaming and jumping, reaching out trying to touch and get the attention of the international celebrity. He was completely unfazed and went to work setting up his equipment right away. He took off where Duvall had left off, speeding up the beat already being played. The crowd’s screams got louder as the beat got quicker. 

He then went into a string of house/techno songs including crowd favorite, Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’.  With the excitement of the first couple of songs the dance floor felt more like an Alexisonfire mosh pit; everyone was fighting for the coveted space right up front, trying to get a good look at one of the most sought after DJs in the country.

He played for three hours and considering the mere $8 cover charge this was most generous of him. He played typical crowd favorites such as Rage Against the Machine, AC/DC, Bloc Party and Peaches, and Queen, all with his own spin on it, and threw in many of his own singles as well.

As the former lead singer of hardcore band This Machine Kills, Aoki has an obsessive background in hardcore and punk, so it was no surprise that he often picked up the mic to screamo-ad-lib when there were no lyrics, and to sing along when there were. He is a bona fide entertainer and he certainly has that rock star gene, as he spent the evening crowd surfing and hanging from the rafters.

The best kind of DJ is one that is just as into the music and the craziness as the audience, and Aoki is known to become completely absorbed by the beat. Jumping around, head banging, and having as much interaction with the audience as possible, whether it’s by inviting eager fans onstage to dance or offering drinks from his 26er of Grey Goose to those few lucky fans in the front, are just a few of the Aoki staples.

All in all, the night was a stellar success for the ‘Kid Millionaire’. Aoki plays an indie showcase at Cinespace in LA on Tuesday nights, and he also regularly plays at Hollywood’s LAX and NYC’s Marquee. He has travelled all over the world, going as far as London and Japan and he has his own independent record label, “Dim Mak,” which is home to MSTRKRFT, Pony Up, and Pretty Girls Make Graves, as well as a clothing line of the same name.