The place was packed.

So packed that even the “VIPers” had to fight their way through the throngs to get to do whatever they needed to do. There were Skrillex-type females with shaved heads milling about. Drunk Chinese guys pushing and shoving for whatever reason. Scantily clad women in eye popping outfits wondering what they were doing there. Cough and your breath waves could infect 25 people.

You started to have a real fear that there could be a stampede. The bouncers thought that way too. Which is why the tables on either side were removed. And wherever there was space, the crowd glommed.

And through it all was a kind of Skrillex musical thread before he even came on. Past midnight, DJ Alvin Risk started exciting the crowd with a broom brom bra brommmmm beat style – all stuttering beats punctuated by intense bass bursts. After that, 12th Planet upped the ante, pumping the crowd up with his “Make some noise!” chants alongside a heavier brand of stuttering beats.

The crowd jerked around – not really dancing – and pumping their arms in breathless enthusiasm. The longer 12th Planet went on, was a real worry about how breathless this crowd would get. Undoubtedly, PLAY had never seen so many people.

And finally, Skrillex appeared – so did the phones. It made one wonder: were people here to see Skrillex because they like his music? Or were they here so they could film him and say they were here?

“My Name Is Skrillex” went his famed opening song – and so did the cheers, the crushing, the jubilation and more crushing. His tracks were definitely more vibrant then the rest, but after a couple hours, one theme was pre-dominant. This all sounds like squawking on steroids, a herky jerk, all bam bom bom bom brommmmmm, skronkkkkkkk, skrankkkkkkk, tsch, tsch, tsch, brommpppppp.

And so it went….

And so we left, satisfied that we’d seen the best of this brand of EDM, this kind of crowd and frankly, thankful that we were still alive.

It was that packed…

Review by Scott Murphy

To view the photos from the night click HERE.

So what did you think of the night? Post your comments below.