Imagine bright neon lights, giant hamster balls, Harlem Shake and electronic music with Jamaican flair. Major Lazer – composed of one of the most innovative producers of all time, Diplo, and producers Jillionaire and Walshy Fire – stopped by Chicago last Saturday to deliver a very crowd-interactive show and transformed Congress Theater into a Jamaican dancehall.
The stage setup mimicked a gigantic boombox, evoking a feeling of musical explosion within the venue. Accompanied by their two dancers, Major Lazer certainly engaged the crowd. Looking spiffy in their white shirts and ties, Diplo and Walshy Fire rolled over an ecstatic audience inside huge inflatable hamster balls. They also got everyone involved with their Chicago Congress Theater version of the Harlem Shake, which required a second take for it to be successful. Diplo also took off his shirt, which got a lot of people to do the same with very little hesitation, not to mention the inevitable scene of girls screaming to throw his shirt at them. Part of the crowd even became part of the set, as Major Lazer got girls to jump up (and twerk) on stage appropriately enough during songs like Bubble Butt and Express Yourself, bringing the intensity of the party to a whole new level.
Major Lazer kept the crowd fully entertained and kept the energetic vibe up throughout their entire set with crowd pleasers like Original Don and their more recent tracks like Jah No Partial and Get Free. They continued to take the crowd across different genres with the trap remix of Heads Will Roll and a remix/mashup of Blur's Song 2. Thanks to the never-ending supply of Neon lasers, floor-ripping tunes and the three members tirelessly running up and down the stage to hype the crowd, Major Lazer was definitely one of the most exciting shows I've seen.
