Paul Oakenfold
It was 55 minutes into Paul Oakenfold’s set when Mother Nature decided to crash the nonstop trance dance celebration. “ThunderStormageddon” was headed for the festival; the party was forced to stop. Or was it?
“The weather looks alright to me,” said the 51-year-old Oakenfold, peering up into darkening skies. A pioneer in electronic music long before the rest of the world caught on, Oakenfold soldiered on for his fans. Ever the pioneer, he played one final mashup to cap a shortened but electrifying 60-minute set of EDM that still makes him one of the most renowned, sought-after DJs in the business.
The tune was instantly recognizable to the crowd—Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive.” But Oakenfold washed over the Godzilla-like thumps of the original tune with a synth-laden overdrive, fleshing out the song’s skeletal frame with layers of bass beat cascading up and over the mix.
Oakenfold is not one for modern day gimmicks and theatrics seen with more recent “rock star” DJs. He’s there to mix and delight and awe his audience while driving them to a frenzy with a wave of his hands. The magic is in the way he builds a tune, layering it as it builds to a sonic zenith before it explodes—and the crowd along with it.
There’s also a playful tease going on at times, like playing snippets of the sinister-sounding guitar intro to The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” Just when it’s going to break into the song’s verse, Oakenfold spins the mix in an entirely different direction. But the crowd doesn’t seem to mind at all. The beat just goes on and on and on... that is, until the first raindrops begin to fall. Party over. Until next time...
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