I must admit I was a bit skeptical before seeing David Guetta on a Saturday night at a concert venue as large as the Aragon Entertainment Center. The dance music giant and DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJ’s 2011 poll winner has been known to a cause a polarizing opinion or two. To some, he is the epitome of everything that is wrong with dance music, while to others, he is a versatile dance music pioneer capable of crafting progressive dance floor bangers and massive radio hits, alike. Luckily, last Saturday night he turned out to be more of the latter.
 
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Starting out strong, he opened his two hour set with a decent assortment of everything that is the current Beatport Top 10 including his recent hard-hitting hits such as “Ain’t a Party,” “Shot Me Down” and his most recent chart topper, “Bad” – a collaboration with Showtek. As the show progressed, he was careful not to overuse his own catalog by carefully alternating his own megahits like “Love Is Gone” and “Memories” with huge, current, arena-ready bangers such as Stadiumx’s “Howl At The Moon” or Showtek’s “We Like To Party”. Although, no one at the venue seemed to go into a frenzy over any of the tracks, the crowd consistently appeared happy and entertained from people dancing on the main floor to those partying it up VIP-style while looking down from the surrounding balconies.
 
All photos from this show were taken on a 20 MP Nokia Lumia Icon Phone, courtesy of Verizon Wireless.
 
Naturally, as Guetta is one of the top names in dance music he also brought his A-game when it came to his light show. Shooting lasers from the entire stage he illuminated the room with a wide assortment of everything that makes EDM shows exciting and even, at times, fascinating.

Undoubtedly, the enthusiastic Frenchman saved the best for last. Blasting his gigantic collaboration with pop music’s number one hit maker, Sia, “She Wolf (Falling To Pieces)”, the song, although now two years old, was more than enough evidence that the man knows how to create a uber-catchy and proper dance hit. The song’s monumental drop and Sia’s flawless vocals are everything that’s great about the current trend of combining commercial dance music with a pop sound.

Being that he is after all, a well-mannered gentleman and (and a true Frenchman), the hit-making producer didn’t forget to pay homage to Chicago’s recently deceased house music pioneer, Frankie Knuckles. After finishing his set, he spoke warmly to the crowd and acknowledged Knuckles by stating that without the legendary producer, people like him wouldn’t be here today. He left the stage by playing Knuckles’ collaboration with Marshall Jefferson, “Move Your Body” and by displaying the beloved artist’s face over the front of the DJ booth. Judging by many young faces present, probably half of the room never heard the song or didn’t even know who Frankie Knuckles was; however, Guetta clearly wasn’t taking any chances. Paying his dues to a legend in his adopted hometown was enough proof that Guetta not only has class, but he clearly is a man who knows exactly what he’s doing.
 
All photos from this show were taken on a 20 MP Nokia Lumia Icon Phone, courtesy of Verizon Wireless.
 

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