What unfolded to be one of the best nights of my life all started with Deadmau5 playing "Where My Keys". I can only imagine how much thought Joel must have put into deciding which song he was going to open the night with; I myself wondered the very same thing. I think he could not have made a better choice. Simply hearing that signature opening "twang" coming from behind the curtains as you can faintly see the outline of the cube had my heart racing at 1000 km/s. The lights exploded, the beat dropped and Deadmau5 began to play…
What seemed just a tease, the music ended followed by an eerie silence when suddenly lights shined from behind the curtains illuminating him and the cube as a thunderous note blared out of the speakers and the curtain fell. If my heart was racing before at 1000km/s it was going nearly 10 million km/s now. Put in a lucid state, "Where are my keys" continued to play as I instantly felt the crowd's love.
There were simply too many songs played to go through each one. Instead I'll describe the highlights of the night and hopefully I can help you to re-live some of the glorious moments from November 5th.
One song that stuck out was "To Play Us Out", the electro fidget sounds echoed throughout the entire centre as the lights whirled in every direction and yellow text was over lapping and moving over his cube. The clip from Bill O'Reilly's original freakout quickly dimmed the mood and brought a silence to everyone watching. The drop in this song did not disappoint as the lights went hand in hand after the words "Fucking thing sucks." The fidget electro instantly exploded again capturing me in Deadmau5's spell.
"Sometimes Things Get, Whatever" opened right into "Cthulhu Sleeps" which was another amazing track to see live. After having watched an enormous amount of videos of Deadmau5 live I knew the squid visuals were coming for this track. I was so unprepared for what he had in store. Simply seeing the green tentacles wiggling across the screen and having a green strobe flash in front of me was more than ever expected. It slowly calmed as Deadmau5's set worked into a softer/glitcher series of songs such as "Jaded", "HR 8938 Cephei", "Slip", and more.
One of the highlights from these songs was "Aural Psynapse". Hearing this song made me feel almost as if I were in a dream. The relaxing melody came at such a perfect time to calm everyone's bodies from having raved for the past hours. The track has just the right amount of build and intensity to keep you far away from bored and as mystified by Deadmau5 as before.
As if to get back to the heavier side of his show he came back to us with a massive dubstep track. The vocals in Raise your Weapon slowly crept up on us until the whole stadium was screaming along to the lyrics (or at least me.) Noisia's remix blared out through the speakers, catching me off guard completely, but still loving it. The visuals which went with the remix were absurd, chaotic, terrifying. I loved every single pixel.
Shortly after this the amazing eye candy Sofi came on stage to an instant uproar as "Sofi Needs A Ladder" started to play. Deadmau5 came down from his cube and the two of them put on quite a show dancing together on the stage. At one point she even said to Deadmau5, "Hi Joel, you're home!" It instantly melted the crowds' heart as he came home for his final show in Toronto, which was simply a sign of true love. After "Sofi Needs a Ladder", it got even heavier with Sofi finishing her stage time singing "One Trick Pony".
One of the best songs of the night, I would have to say, was "Professional Griefers"; this song simply blew everyone out of the water. Was anyone ready for the Griefers machine? Can anyone be ready for the Griefers machine? The visuals of the red machinery work so well with the 'harder' side of the track making it look as if Deadmau5 is in some sort of breathing, moving, machine. The lights along with the cubes work together to create a mind blowing Griefers machine.
All of a sudden at one point a single repeating note is struck and yellow beams of light start flashing making it seem almost as if something has stopped working. Deadmau5 quickly leaves creating a hectic moment of stress for the crowd. I remember this so well because my friend turned to me and said "something epic is going to happen!" Something epic did happen, Deadmau5 emerged in a white cloak looking almost like a ghost..?
"Moar Ghosts and Stuff" instantly erupted from the speakers and the crowd went hysteric. The explosion of visuals mixed with Deadmau5 dressed as a ghost was almost too much to handle. Who am I kidding; it was never too much to handle, it was simply amazing.
After "Moar Ghosts and Stuff" mixed with "Ghosts and Stuff" there was a silence followed by a intense countdown from 60 seconds in sync with the crowd clapping that chilled me to the bone. "Limit Break" started with its electro fidget sounds and was another great track played that night.
But, in my opinion the best track of the night, the final track, one of his most popular songs had to be "Strobe". The long melodic intro cooled the crowd down from a night no one there will ever forget. So what is it about "Strobe" that made that night so unforgettable? Why is "Strobe" such a major track for Deadmau5 that simply everyone loves to hear as the final song of the night? Simplicity. The soothing rhythm in "Strobe" is what any raver wants to hear after just being through a tremendous night. Strobe simply put, is that "cherry on top."
I can honestly say that November 5th, 2011 was one of the best nights of my life. I feel like Deadmau5 agrees with me as well. Seeing him after the show come down the pathway in the centre and simply collapse with exhaustion and love for his fans was one of the most moving moments of the night. You could easily see how much love Joel had for the crowd as he danced off the stage and vice versa when the crowd started to cheer Deadmau5 as he lied on the platform while 2 hours of the best night of his life took their toll.
