Kaskade’s anticipated Redux show is returning to New York City on Dec 30th, but in an unexpectedly larger venue –Pier 36. The concept was originally created to be “a big idea but a small room” and has ambitiously taken its first step into a much larger space. The multi-city tour intended to be a journey into a deeper side of his music and the first Redux shows were initially restricted to smaller, intimate nightclubs with the intention of recreating his first gigs over a decade ago. As house music has transitioned from dark underground dance clubs to stadium size venues in the past 10 years, Kaskade’s live sets have also grown. He’s successfully been able to morph his unmistakably soft and melodic productions into dance floor ready forces fit for sold out arena shows.
In the harsh reality of revenue driven music festivals and bottle service nightclubs, the business of satisfying the cravings of mainstream audiences is paramount. Music played by popular DJs often become watered down. What the crowd is left with is rough beats that are lacking substance and delivered in the form of easy listening. Attempts to recreate club culture on a festival stage or arena frequently get lost in translation. Kaskade conceived the Redux Tour to alleviate the formulaic live sets that are oversaturated with crowd-pleasing anthems and and have become rampant in the scene. Redux was born in light of this current state of dance music. It also shunned the bright lights and gimmicks that have stepped into the forefront of this spectacle.
New York’s introduction to Kaskade’s concept was at the legendary dance club Cielo in 2013. This playground for house and techno fans has welcomed many of the city’s unconventional DJs and has been a home for those who tended to strayed away from popular music. Not without initial skepticism, the result of Redux’s debut was a soulful experience that was gracefully executed with Kaskade’s style as its driving force. Cielo was just the beginning as he then took to Brooklyn’s Output earlier this year, another well-known staple for the underground music scene. He was so moved by the crowd that he considered this to be the most successful night of the tour. “New York City is freakishly rich in people who love the deep end of house music. They are sophisticated but not too cool to dance,” he stated. He proceeded to mention that this city was the one place that felt appropriately unique to host a big room Redux show.
Now the superstar DJ is ready to take the show to Pier 36, a massive 64,000 square-foot venue. “A Redux where we change nothing but the size of the room,” is how Kaskade simply described it. In an eager play for the deep movement, this demonstrates the possibilities of the future of house music. It’s a positive encouragement for more DJs to return to their roots and revive the old school dance scene, which has been overwhelmed by the results of its commercialization. The deeper sounds of house might not be new or different to what has continued to thrive in the darker depths of New York’s nightlife. But what’s important here, is an influential mainstream artist embracing art that has been lost in modern times and in a way that is true to his own self.
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Purchase tickets for Kaskade’s Redux show at Pier 36 NYC on Dec 30th at nyespecials.com
Purchase tickets for Kaskade’s Redux show at Pier 36 NYC on Dec 30th at nyespecials.com