Skrillex, O2 Academy Brixton - review

That's thanks, partly, to his schizophrenic haircut - one side skinhead, one side Slipknot - and recent status as Ellie Goulding's new boyfriend. But it's also about the music. The former Sonny Moore won three Grammy Awards this month - including Best Dance Album for his Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites EP - and came to Brixton on Friday for the first of two sell-out shows here.

The American was given a hero's welcome from a crowd that included the usual shirtless brigade and a few parent/children combos at the back. What mum and dad would have made of this organ-rattling aural assault is anyone's guess. Because let's be clear: a Skrillex show is not for the fainthearted. When the bass kicked in, it was like being punched repeatedly in the chest.

While most DJ performances are as visually engaging as watching paint dry, this one mesmerised. A giant robot was projected on the screen behind Skrillex, aping his every move, while fireworks and streamers were shot skywards.

The music was similarly imaginative, referencing everything from dubstep, to metal, to reggae. David Guetta, this wasn't.

Skrillex sprinkled his own songs with snippets of covers. Flo Rida's Good Feeling was re-imagined as a hulking dubstep number; La Roux's In for the Kill cued a giant sing-along; House of Pain's Jump Around prompted everyone to, er, jump around.
Occasionally, a disorientated raver would stumble back from the mêlée, looking like they'd just returned from the Battle of the Somme. Skrillex, by contrast, showed no signs of slowing down.

Whether head-banging at the front or demanding that we put our effing hands up, he looked like he was having as much fun as the crowd.

And then, with confetti filling the arena and Nero's Promises ringing in our ears, he was gone.

If you're going to see one DJ this year, make it this one.

Skrillex