Photo: Instagram
Illenium kicked off the second phase of his Ashes tour this past weekend at Playstation Theater in NYC. As per usual with Playstation Theater, lights glimmered and stunning visuals behind the DJ left NYC swimming in paradise for over three hours. Accompanying Illenium for this inaugural Ashes performance was M!NT and ECHOS. The night began with NYC resident M!NT throwing down a slow, melodic set to get things going. He played some tracks off his Through Darkness EP in addition to some unreleased tracks. The crowd swayed in unison as the soft beats glided across the crowd.
As M!NT wrapped up, ECHOS prepared for her live performance. She came on right around 11:15 and her emotional voice took over the crowd for over an hour. She would perform tracks off her most recent EP that was released under a month ago. Incorporating some beats into her performance proved to captivate the crowd and resulted in some sick dance moves being thrown around. She left the stage right before Illenium came on at 12:30, however that was not the last we’d see of ECHOS.
As Illenium took the stage Playstation Theater became filled to the brim as illenials from all over inched closer to the stage. His set started with a bang dropping Afterlife which vocals would be sung by none other than ECHOS. Illenium manned the decks and operated the drum pads as ECHOS skillfully sang the well known lyrics. The rest of his set would follow suit and each track or mashup left attendees head banging and dancing harder than ever. He would go on to play several songs of his Ashes album like Fortress and Reverie.
It would not be an Illenium performance without hearing his famed remixes of Kaskade’s, Disarm You and Flume’s, Say It. In addition, he would even drop a Marshmello track as well as some hard bass that cranked up the intensity in Playstation Theater. The night would close out right around 1 AM with his legendary remix of The Chainsmoker’s, Don’t Let Me Down. Lights flickered and attendees screamed with joy as the legendary beat dropped in. An encore would bring him out for one last song and it could be none other than his newest collaboration with Seven Lions & Said The Sky, Rush Over Me. A legendary and emotional night concluded all too soon, NYC is awaiting your next performance Illenium.
Before his show, RaverRafting had the opportunity to talk with Illenium about his newest music, touring with Big Gigantic, and perfecting his sound. Be sure to check out our exclusive interview below!
You just got done touring with Big Gigantic, how was that?
Illenium: It was really fun, they have awesome vibes and fans. I toured with them for awhile, I think we did 9 or so shows together and it was a great experience. We had a show in Port Chester NY which was sick as well.
Tell me a little bit about your newest collaboration with Seven Lions and Said The Sky, what was it like working with them?
Illenium: It was awesome, Jeff (Seven Lions) is great and I work with Trevor (Said The Sky) all the time so we always challenge each other which is really fun. Throwing Jeff in that mix was just so amazing, I mean he’s a crazy cool producer.
You’ve become pretty close with Jeff too?
Illenium: Yeah dude he’s the man. He’s one of the guys I look up to as a homie that’s just awesome. He lives up in Seattle and just chills.
Well you’ve both got that melodic bass type sound as well.
Illenium: Yeah totally.
I have to ask about this Youtube video I saw, it had three unreleased Illenium tracks in it, is there any authenticity to that?
Illenium: Those were definitely legit. You’ll hear two out of three of them tonight and then one other new one that wasn’t in the video. I did this Q&A with Electric Family and I was just playing some tunes and it got ripped and thrown up on Youtube.
Are those tracks going to be released as singles?
Illenium: One of them will be a single, but they’re all probably going to be on my next album. I don’t have a name for it yet, but there’s definitely a vibe to it. It’s a little alternative, but has a lot of guitar, a ton of guitar actually.
What vocalists are you working with for this newest album?
Illenium: I’m working with Chelsea Cutler who’s really dope, but no one really too huge.
If you had to pick your favorite Illenium track, which would it be?
Illenium: Favorite Illenium track would probably be Fortress. I love Fortress, I was really digging that song and then I did that part with the vocals “how’d you get so far away…” and it kind of just made the song from me. It’s just a really emotional track for me.
And then Seven Lions did his trance remix of it as well?
Illenium: Yeah, tonight I’ll play a little mashup of both. We’re also putting out a remix album of Ashes real soon.
Do you always go for the melodic bass sound when producing or do you let your creativity decide what sound to use?
Illenium: I definitely go for stuff that brings my emotions out, however I like messing around with heavy stuff here and there, but I love feelings for music it’s just on another level.
Will the sets you play on Big Gigantic’s tour differ from sets on your solo tour?
Illenium: Yeah whenever I’m opening for people I change some stuff up and try new stuff out. With Big Gigantic I think the show you saw was a little more chill and shorter. My headlining show is an hour and a half and is 75 to 85 percent of my own music. All of the tracks in my album are played. I like my own shows more just because of that factor. That Big Gigantic tour was sick though.
You once said that your remix of Kill Paris’ “Operate” is one of the most emotional tracks you’ve ever produced, do you stand by that?
Illenium: Yeah! Totally stand by that, it was a time of my life where I was going through an emotional time. I just got out of a break up so it was definitely a tough time so I made some sounds that could relate to that. Everyone goes through that at some point in life so creating something like that was really helpful at the time.
So you essentially try to blend emotion with base in your productions?
Illenium: Yeah, always uplifting melodic bass.
Connect With Illenium:
https://www.facebook.com/Illenium
https://soundcloud.com/illeniumofficial
https://twitter.com/ILLENIUMMUSIC
https://www.instagram.com/illeniummusic
http://illenium.com
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