Seven Lions headlined Rawhide Event Center for his Prelude: Gathering Twilight show last weekend, bringing some amazing artists for support, including Apashe, Space Wizard, and Hvdes. With such a stacked lineup supporting the legendary artist, I knew I had to attend. Even though I ended up being disappointed by how much the opening artists were handicapped, the night ended up being an incredible experience filled with amazing music, capped off with one of the best melodic bass sets I have ever seen—accompanied by a jaw-dropping laser light show that will be hard to top.
The night started right, with friendly staff guiding us to the free parking and making for a smooth entrance into the venue. The show was held in the well-known Rawhide warehouse, with the large grass lawn outside being filled with picnic tables and plenty of places to get drinks. The lawn created the ultimate place to relax and get off your feet during the night, now that the hot Arizona summer weather is on its way out and the cold winter weather hasn’t quite settled in. Sitting on the lawn for the night in the perfect weather and people-watching would have made for its own entertainment if it weren’t for the beats Ekonovah was already playing inside the warehouse.
Ekonovah started the night off with a high-energy set that leaned into the spiritual vibes of the night. It kept the crowd jumping but also set the stage for Seven Lions later in the night. His new song, Broken Record, received a loud crowd reaction when the house beat hit. As fun as the music was, it was unfortunate that the two large visual screens on the side of the stage were locked to a Seven Lions screensaver that cycled colors, and Ekonovah’s visuals were only on the main center screen behind the stage. The screensaver would stay locked on those screens for the three opening artists until Apashe was allowed to have the full visual stage later in the night.
Hvdes was the second artist of the night to play out her style of emotionally charged, haunting dubstep, and I was ready. Opening her set with her Svdden Death collaboration Don’t You Dare Go Hollow set the vibe for the heaviest set I have seen her play. Her remix of Mind Pluck made the ground shake, and the new collab she has with Space Wizard made the crowd roar. I was again frustrated that Hvdes’ amazing, bloody, gruesome visuals weren’t allowed to be displayed on the large side screens that were still cycling through random colors, not matching the beats at all. She premiered her new melodic bass collaboration she is working on with Trivecta to end her set before giving the stage over to trippy bass mastermind Space Wizard.
Space Wizard hit the stage hard, playing heavy stomping bass remixes of Seven Nation Army, Break Stuff, and Cinema. None of those made the crowd scream as much as his crazy Griztronics remix. Space Wizard’s slow, heavy experimental sounds felt handicapped, though, as the volume level was so low I didn’t need to put in earplugs and could barely feel the bass toward the back of the warehouse. The volume was so low that I was able to have a conversation about how quiet it was at a normal speaking volume with a friend while standing near the sound booth. Luckily for me, the volume would increase when Apashe started playing next.
I felt the excitement in the room go up a level when the screensaver on the side screens was finally replaced by Apashe’s visuals, and the sound level of his epic orchestra intro made me reach for my earplugs for the first time all night. This was my first time seeing Apashe in person, and I was blown away by the way he mixed sounds of classical music, similar to something Mozart might have composed, blended into modern electronic booty-shaking bass beats. His songs Majesty and Lacrimosa had the crowd going crazy, but nothing could get a bigger crowd reaction than his remix of Duel of the Fates, the climactic song from Star Wars: Episode I. The blending of huge classical sounds with the massive bass hits of the full sound system made this a set to remember before the man of the night, Seven Lions, came out to finish off the night.
As Seven Lions took his place, the rest of the extravagant stage setup came to life. A huge lighting rig built out over the crowd that remained dark for most of the night now came to life, shining spotlights through the entire crowd. There hadn’t been a single laser shot over the crowd the entire night, but now dozens of them filled the air over our heads in a dazzling light display. Seven Lions’ huge sounds were kicked up a notch by just how amazing the light show being displayed was. A faster-paced version of Another Me dropped into a heavy techno drop that had the crowd whooping at the top of their lungs. The set continued to change it up as he would drop a heavy dubstep section, then double Metallica’s Enter Sandman with Darude’s Sandstorm, leading into an incredible psytrance drop. My favorite moment was the special visuals based on H.P. Lovecraft’s story The Color Out of Space, accompanied by a jaw-dropping drum and bass song. The amazing singer HALIENE joined the stage to sing the vocals for their hit song Rush Over Me, which had the crowd locked into their feelings before the night ended.
Reflecting back, I can say I had a great time at Seven Lions’ Prelude: Gathering Twilight. Even though I feel like the opening artists were overly handicapped by the sound level and visual screens, each artist showed off what makes them all great and unique. In the end, this was Seven Lions’ night, and he showed why he is such a big name in the bass music scene. He and his team have clearly spent a lot of time and effort creating a stunning audiovisual experience for his fans that is second to none in the melodic bass scene.