Thu eve myself, Lara and Mike (Leigh let us borrow her BF for the evening) headed over to the CTICC for Deadmau5.  For those who are going “Huh, what the hell is that!?”  Let me give you some interesting background facts, mostly courtesy of Wikipedia:

Image from: http://www.booooooom.com

- DeadMau5 (pronounced “dead mouse”) is one of the world’s top electro acts, a brilliant DJ who creates & plays mostly his own stuff,  using software he’s helped write to assemble tracks on the go.
That means definitely no CDs here folks!!
- He’s a 30 year old from Toronto, Canada and his real name Joel Thomas Zimmerman.
- The name “deadmau5″ originated when Zimmerman found a dead mouse in his computer while replacing his video card. He told people about it over IRC chat and they started referring to him as “that dead mouse guy.” The nickname “Dead Mouse” was too long for the IRC character limit, so he shortened it to deadmau5.
- He’s a littly shy, so he always wears a large mouse head (like the one above) when doing live acts.  These mouse heads light up and everything, they come in different colours and designs and they are really cool.  Just have always wondered how hot it must get in there.

So… now that you’re all clued up.  Back to Thu eve.   We got there at 7pm (doors opened at 5), but we knew Deadmau5 would only be going on stage at 10pm with some “tbc” opening act starting at 8pm according to Computicket.  Actually, Computicket couldn’t give me any details on the opening act(s) when I went to pick up my tickets the day before. I thought that was pretty bad.  I only saw after the fact on Capetownmagazine.com that it was supposedly the following lineup:

17H00 – 18H00: Tommy Gun
18H00 – 19H00: Ivan Turanjanin
19H00 – 20H00: Chris Jack
20H00 – 21H00: Roger Goode
21H00 – 22H00: Louis

Ah well, we didn’t really care too much about the opening acts in any case, we pretty much spent 3 hours at the CTICC Marimba bar drinking & mingling.  Probably not the best plan in hindsight as that was way too much time for me to transform into the evil Kandi.  hehe.

When we finally entered the exhibition area we were greeted by 10,000 people who had clearly not spent their time outside drinking, but was clever enough to get inside and get a good spot.  But I still think we did OK…  at least it was a happy bunch of people. (Really tried to get VIP tickets, but sadly they were sold in within minutes – so we only had standard tickets)

Lara, “uncle” Mike and Kandi (my drunken self)

Oh you can bet your ass there were plenty more pics of us and others, but I can’t share those with you guys.  I’d be killed.  I had that camera of mine shoved in everyone’s faces the entire evening  (much to their dismay) – trying to make sure I documented enough of the excitement.

The anticipation started building as the lights dimmed…

You’ll notice a mouse head in the middle there. That’s NOT him. That’s just some super duper dedicated fan.

And then BOOM!, Deadmau5 finally said hellooooooo to Cape Town! The crowd went insane, everyone jumping up and down, chanting his name.

Hello there Mr Mouse. How you doin’? (That’s the real deal mouse head)

Now electro acts are known for crazy visuals and impressive stage sets.  But trust me, this guy takes it to a totally different level.  I only have a snap-and-go digital camera, but I’ve tried to put together some images to give you an idea:

These pics really don’t do it justice at all. I mean, you have to keep in mind that the CTICC is quite a big venue and we filled halls 1 through to 4.  So the scale of the stage was seriously mind blowing.  The sound was also really good and the crowd’s energy was infectious.  I was really glad that I finally got the chance to see this guy perform live.  Mike actually introduced me to Deadmau5 a couple of months back, he showed me this DVD of one of his overseas shows and I was immediately hooked.  Since then I’ve been stalking him on Youtube and reading up all about this mysterious mouse boy.  But actually getting to see him do his thing rocked my world.

I heard that some folk were saying that the JHB (H2O, Wild Waters, Boksburg) event made the CT event look like a kids’ show.  Come now people, let’s be real.  It might have been a bigger venue and outdoors, but I’ve had a look at the clips on Youtube and it definitely did not kick ours.  How could they ever beat the Capetonian flare!? Me no think so.

You can check out the full set list here and even listen to snippets from each song.  Ghosts ‘n Stuff & Strobe were my favourites from the evening without a doubt.  This was one hell of a way to kick of the summer party season.  Keep it coming Cape Town!

xxx