When you personally develop long term shows like your new night, Re- volt at Hakkasan, what is your main goal in terms of finding a balancev- between mass appeal and artistry?
Like how I play, my formula is: I’ll play 50% for the crowd and 50% for me. And with that comes one very important rule … never ever play a track you don’t like. So I genuinely like all the tracks I play out. But, even if it’s the biggest track on earth, if I hate it, then I won’t play it. Same goes for making tracks. I’ll have 50% artistry in there, and 50% that appeals to a mass audience. Life is all about bal- ance; it’s never good in long term to go overboard.
How do Canadian crowds differ from those around the world? More spe- cifically why is Vancouver one of your favorite cities?
I LOVE Vancouver. I’ve been coming here since the early 2000s. Had some amazing parties and after parties here. I can honestly tell you Vancouver and Barcelona are my two favorite cities in the world. It’s because it’s such a melting pot of everything awesome that a city needs to have: the mountains, the sea, the nature, the old city architecture, the new city architecture, and a very healthy and nice mix of all sorts of cultures. They unite on my floors, and they unite well. The Vancouver crowd is very educated and electronic music runs deeply here. I’ve worked with the Blueprint guys for ages as well. I love those dudes. Nothing but love for Van City!
At that, it was time to unleash Luke to an adoring crowd that filled the dance floor at Celebrities. Within minutes of hitting the decks, Luke’s authenticity permeated the club. Blitzing through twice as many tracks as most DJ’s, it was rare for a track to play through without Luke leaving his brilliant ADD riddled
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imprint all over it. Rushing over the crowd, Tupac’s classic California Love man- aged to run through roughly thirty seconds before Luke warped the track into spinning hysteria as he dropped Sander van Doorn’s club-bending Joyenergizer. Approaching Joyenergizer’s second drop Luke used Knife Party as a bridge into Swedish House Mafia’s Greyhound which was supported by the soft chant of Daft Punk’s Technologic. Constantly surprising the crowd with raw, genuine, and in your face beats Luke proved once again that he is not only a brilliant producer but a world class DJ.
As the stripped down vocals of Benny Benassi’s classic Cinema sent Celebri- ties into a group sing-along Luke’s rapid fire set finally simmered—the tempo suddenly ramped up and the crowd prepared itself for Skrillex’s now famous remix. When the drop hit, Hardwell’s Spaceman burst over the beautifully crisp Funktion-One system and the crowd collectively lost their mind. But it didn’t stop there as Luke powered right through Spaceman’s heavy bassline into the delirium that is Steve Aoki and Afrojack’s No Beef. Now spinning with reckless abandon Luke dove headlong, without even phasing in or out for a build-up, into Showtek and Noisecontrollers’ Get Loose. At nearly four minutes of constant climax Luke had successfully created pure pandemonium in Celebrities. Wrapping up the night with his smash hit Pogo, Luke stepped back from the decks as the dance floor was left speechless … another epic chapter in Laidback Luke’s love affair with Vancouver coming to a close as he packs up his gear wearing a huge smile across his face.
WORDS BY RYAN HAYES
www.djmag.ca
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