Denver’s Illenium made Monday night the best day of the week with his explosive performance at The National.
The producer has been dropping beats and shaking the dance industry since 2013 with his debut album Ashes, and was on tour promoting his most recent release Awake, and fans packed the Richmond venue immerse themselves into Illenium’s captivating sounds and visuals.
He’s a household name to most festivalgoers, with sets at Lollapalooza and Summer Set Music Festival under his belt just to name a few. Racking up almost five million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, and his remix of the Chainsmokers’ “Don’t Let Me Down’”, which has almost 300 million views on the YouTube, has put him in a category all his own.
Illenium stayed behind the mic and his MacBook Pro and was joined by opening acts, Said the Sky — a co-producer of his most recent album, who also put on a hell of a warm-up act, and Dabin — who I unfortunately missed. These openers as well a few others played guitar, keyboard, taiko and snare drums during Illenium’s performance to make up for an immersive masterpiece of a set.
Songs from the Awake album convey more of an emotionally driven vibe as Illenium mentioned during a Billboard interview that he was listening to a lot of Blink-182 and soft rock. To sum up the energy of the crowd that night, listen to “Fractures” on his new album and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
Just like most EDM performance an array of colorful lasers and fog machines blanketed the crowd and engulfed the venue, getting the crowd hyped up by the second. What set Illenium apart from the rest, was his spiritually-healing tunes combined with the lighting and with his fans loved.
Illenium went all out for his encore, playing his single “Beautiful Creatures” and love — and phones- were in the air, as confetti guns came out shooting colorful paper into the air and falling down on dancing fans. It marked the perfect ending for the night.
It looks as though Illenium will be touring through the rest of the year, ending with a New Years Eve performance at Decadence SLC in Salt Lake City where he will be joined by Dabin and Porter Robinson. If you happen to be there be sure to check him out because his music and stage presence is one not to miss.
Photo Credits: Malik Hall
