Justin Blau (3LAU) Nails His 1st "Haus Party" in Philly

Philadelphia's notorious club venue, District N9ne, hosted the very first show of 3LAU's Haus Party tour on Friday, November 28, 2014. I was on the fence about attending this show solely because I'm not a huge house music advocate, but I took into consideration that the opening producers, Makin' Moves and LOUDPVCK, have put on great trap music shows in the past, so I decided to give it a shot. The moment I arrived at the venue, I realized I definitely made the right decision. There was an insane amount of people already packed outside on the sidewalks and the line was already pretty long to get inside. After freezing in the 30 degree weather outside for about 20 minutes of waiting in line, I finally walked through the atrium into the dance floor and braced myself for a mosh pit of rave kids.

The temperature difference between the vestibule and the actual dance area was ridiculous. It may have been about 60 degrees in the lobby, but walking one room over into the dance floor felt like I was being engulfed by a massive heat wave. It had to be 85+ degrees in that room! As I examined the room wondering why a usually comfortable venue was so hot and humid, I felt stupid for even beginning to complain about the heat because I had never seen the venue so packed! Obviously it was going to be uncomfortable being at a near sold-out event with a bunch of underage kids getting their monthly rave dose in (yes, I was unaware this was an all ages event until I got there!). Pierce Fulton, Makin' Moves, and LOUDPVCK all did a solid job getting the crowd hype for 3LAU. Each of the producers dropped multiple genres in their sets to please everyone in the crowd's interests. I was especially happy to hear LOUDPVCK play two of my favorite songs by Flosstradamus, "Mosh Pit" and "Crowd Control". By the time 3LAU came on, I, along with everyone else I'm sure, was so full of energy I didn't even care that he wasn't my favorite genre of EDM.

3LAU's mini-tour has a few more stops in 2014 and hopes to add more throughout 2015. The table below shows his next tour dates and locations.

Justin Blau has taken the electronic dance music scene by surprise within the past few years. He only just began studying dance music in 2011, and by 2013 he already gained support by fellow progressive house producers: Porter Robinson, Tiesto, and R3hab. According to The Dj List (thedjlist.com), 3LAU is ranked #61 globally, #12 in the USA, #1 in Las Vegas, and #27 in the progressive house category. Out of all the EDM producers, Blau's statistics as such a young dj are outstanding. There were points during his set in Philly where I wasn't really feeling it too much, but I'm pretty sure that has a lot to do with the fact that I'm really not a house music fan. Regardless of my personal opinion, the crowd went wild for 3LAU and he definitely put on one high quality performance that kept his fans on their feet throughout his whole set.

Overall, I commend 3LAU on the launch of his Haus Party tour. He surprised me with his mixing, buildups, drops and bass lines (and I'm pretty picky when it comes to my music!). I'm sure you'll see his name on many 2015 summer festival line-ups, and he will undoubtedly leave the crowd wanting more.