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arts entertainmentPop Music

Zedd, Madeon and friends set lasers to stun at South Side Ballroom

With a runtime of nearly four hours, electronic aficionados Zedd, Madeon, Alex Metric and special guest Mat Zo rocked the crowd numbering in the thousands on Saturday night outside of South Side Ballroom.

As an outsider to the Dallas electronic dance music scene, I thought I would be lost among the crowd.

I was terribly, terribly wrong.

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Sure, rave culture is a thing and there were people with big fuzzy hats and little to no clothes on, but it's a concert. Those things happen.

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When the show started, the sun was already on its way down, so it wasn't too sweltering when Mat Zo and Alex Metric finished warming up the crowd. Both seemed to be having a good time, but Metric in particular had a fairly repetitive set. The wubs just kept coming over and over again.

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It wasn't bad by any regard, but the crowd didn't really get into it until 21-year-old Madeon took the stage. His debut studio album, Adventure, released earlier this year to critical praise, and he played all of hard-hitters Saturday night.

The standouts: "Pay No Mind (ft. Passion Pit)" "Nonsense (ft. Mark Foster)" and "Pop Culture," a song made up of almost 30 other songs. There's also a monome solo mid-song, and he performs it live.

On the topic of playing live, Madeon shuns the naysayers and faces his equipment toward the crowd, proving that he doesn't just sit back at his MacBook and press play. It was wonderful and truly impressive.

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Then around 8 p.m., Zedd took the stage and blew everyone away.

With a massive setup of screens, lasers and lights behind and in front of him, each song took the audience through an induced trip of color. And that's fitting, too, since his newest album is True Colors.

Hit set was lengthy, but not a bit stale. He played some recent radio hits like "Bang Bang" by Jessie J and "Rude" by Magic. But he also took a deep dive through the history of electronic music, featuring tributes to Daft Punk and deadmau5. The crowd couldn't get enough.

For a concert that could have been a sweaty mess and a wave of music way too loud for its own good, it was a blast.

Zedd, Madeon and friends are enormously talented, have wonderful stage presence and were able to carry a four-hour concert on the backs of groovy tunes.

Don't think twice before seeing Zedd next time. You'll be sure to miss out.