One of, if not, one of the most hyped up shows of the entire year at Bill Graham, the man who played 4 sold-out shows in his hometown of San Francisco, Illenium. To give some background, Illenium is one of the biggest EDM/Future Bass producers right now and has come out with his 4th album, “Fallen Embers”. He’s played multiple shows at Bill Graham before, but never has he done FOUR. Honestly, I can’t think of anyone else that has done that.
Since being one of the biggest EDM DJs/Producers right now, everyone just HAS to go to this show, and it was VERY hectic trying to plan, especially for me since I went to three out of the 4 shows. I am so tired. Since being I guess you can say a Bay area favorite for everyone who loves EDM, there just had to be 4 shows right? Because he obviously knew everyone would go, and they did.
This show brought a lot of emotion to everyone, his style of music brings out what I would say very “simpy” music, giving that vibe of a chaotic euphoria of your past and what might be relatable to your own personal struggles. I indeed see some people crying and a lot of people just on another wave of their own. And that I would say is the reason why people love him as an artist so much.
Illenium’s live sets are great and from a DJ perspective, I think they are top tier, he’s literally paved the way for so many DJs who want to just make great listening experiences for everyone. His sets start off slow, euphoric, and with a hint of revelation. Then they pick up in loudness and get straight into some dubstep (my favorite part). Everyone is banging and bumping their heads for about 30 minutes or so, and then the chiller part of the show comes, and going back to what I mentioned earlier about people getting into their feelings, it becomes touching to the heart. When I saw his first show back after quarantine in Vegas, I’m not gonna lie, I actually did tear up a little bit because it was his music that I was listening to during the crazy times of 2020 and the first half of this year.
All I can say about Illenium and his yearly scheduled shows late in the year are amazing and if you’re just now getting into EDM, I’d definitely recommend going to one of his shows because they are a good mix of what everyone likes to hear and vibe to nowadays. To top everything off with me being an actual big fan who’s deconstructed his music, I literally ran into him at one of the balcony sections and even got a picture with him, truly one of the greatest times of my life.