With big sold out concerts by major international artists I often wonder what the expectation of the people going would be.

If you are simply a Deadmau5 fan, who downloads his tracks on your smart phone then play it to yourself on your daily train ride, you would have just expected the dude to show up, play your favourite tunes and hope that the sound was loud enough.

If you considered yourself a fanatic, you would have made your own custom Mau5head and worn it from when you were standing in the ticket line. Then once inside down as many drinks as you could and moved to the front to get the best spot possible.

The two above characters had the best time ever, because they were determined to. The supporting DJ’s Tommy Gun, Chris Jack, Roger Goode and Louis made it very clear with their beats why they were the ones selected to warm up the show.

If you are an aspiring DJ/Producer you would go walking in with a curious eye and ear, ready to scrutinize every wide aspect of the venue, from rig and stage set-up to the quality of the sound.

Did the Cape Town leg of the tour live up to everyone’s expectations? Well yes and no. Yes, because for all of us getting to see crazy-ass Deadmau5 play his high energy tunes live along with some of the best visuals ever, simply blew our minds.

Never mind the very emotional raver I stood next to who started yelling in a trembled tone… “It’s about to explode”… then dropped to his knees gripping the space between his eyes, nursing some very real tears. Or, the chick who got up on someone’s shoulders and flashed her boobies for all of Cape Town to cheer at on the big screen. Good, yes? Seriously though, these are good signs of a party being had! Say what you wanna.

Then for the more refined, experienced raver, there were a few things that were left a miss. For one – the sound was just not up to full booming scratch, with the size of the CTICC arena leaving too much room for reverb. No, sadly the sound didn’t carry that well, unless like the fanatics you were already nestled in the center of the dance floor since eight pm. No raver lights for the dance floor and generally, just a lack of vibe and energy created by being in the venue itself. Kind of like a, you get what you paid for offering. Hey, alrighty.

Well, if you went you can say you were there and saw his head, heard his voice and made the memory for yourself and with your friends. And if you weren’t well I can surely say you missed out on a world class performer who delivered a quality set of tunes and despite the circumstance of the set-up still managed to get boys and girls screaming alike.

WORDS: Mary Honeychild