Article By: Gracie Roberts ; Photos By: Mason Trinca

On March 11, EDM fans of all ages crowded into Eugene’s McDonald Theater for a night of danceable beats, high spirits, and overall insanity. Dim Mak’s Deadmeat Tour had finally made its way to the West Coast, and Eugene’s occupants were clearly ready to hear what Datsik and Steve Aoki had to offer. Although the pairing of these two artists was an unlikely combination due to their different aesthetic approaches, the tour’s broad range of musical style brought twice the number of fans to check out the bass-filled scene.

From 7 to 9 p.m., the McDonald was blasted with the sounds of openers Nathan Jenkins and Belgian brothers Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. Their minimalist, electro beats served as a high-contrast sound for what was to follow.

Datsik, also known as Troy Beetles, has been exhibiting his own approach to dubstep music since the spring of 2009. Although a native of British Columbia, Datsik has been considered one of the forerunners of the American dubstep scene since his first appearances as a DJ. With his debut album, Vitamin D, scheduled to be released on Dim Mak Records in April 2012, the future continues to look bright for this young musical mastermind.

Datsik took the stage with his signature setup, asking the crowd if they were “ready for some really evil dubstep”. His question was undoubtedly well-received, and the floors began to shake with a monstrous amount of bass streaming through the theater’s sound system. At an hour and thirty minutes into his set, Eugene’s crowd was ready for more of Datsik’s sound, but unfortunately, his performance was cut a bit short. Eugene’s first show sold out so quickly that a special second show was added to the tour at Eugene’s Rok Nightclub. Although a good marketing strategy, the back-to-back show schedule hurried both artists’ set times during their first performance at the McDonald Theater.

After taking a few minutes erect his platform, Steve Aoki emerged onstage as a celestial being with long, flowing hair and a pair of blue jeans. Although the audience at McDonald Theater could appear daunting to some artists, Aoki has no fear when it comes to playing in front of huge crowds. Over the past decade, he has been selling out large venues worldwide as his star has been steadily on the rise. His debut album, Wonderland, dropped on January 27th on Dim Mak Records and is available online and in stores across the nation.

Steve Aoki brought a peak level of energy and madness to the crowd that eagerly jumped at his feet. During the performance of “Turbulence”, the artist performed his notorious act of spraying the crowd with champagne. This stunt was only the first of a slew of tricks played by Aoki, who proceeded to dump multiple bottles of fruit juices, full-sized bakery cakes, and additional bottles of champagne onto the crowd. With the fatigue of non-stop touring, Eugene’s show, which fell near the end of the Deadmeat tour, served as an excuse to let loose. Instead of staying close to his turntables and providing live music, Aoki was more interested in the party that was taking place in the pit of the theater. Against the security guards’ will, he sent out an inflatable boat into the audience, inviting fans to take a ride on top of the crowd. However reckless this big-name artist chose to be during the night of this performance, the crowd ate up his spontaneous attitude with great pleasure and satisfaction.

McDonald Theater was musically overwhelmed with the contrasting sounds of Datsik and Steve Aoki during what would otherwise have been another dull Sunday evening. The Deadmeat tour provided an opportunity for fans to experience genres outside of their customary musical tastes. The Deadmeat journey also marked the first time that Aoki and Datsik have teamed up to co-headline a nationwide tour, and with its widespread success, Deadmeat marks the beginning of many possible collaborations between these two world-famous artists in the future.