1. Gotta say: What looks eye-popping on Sensation’s promotional channel on YouTube appears much more commonplace and understated in person. (It’s all in the editing, apparently.) The production for the October 5 Dutch dance event’s Vegas debut—part of an inaugural American tour of the “Ocean of White” theme—ultimately underwhelmed, from the uninventive use of lighting to the ho-hum eye candy (jellyfish, illuminated balls, waterfalls) that, frankly, had nothing on competing electronic music festivals Electric Daisy Carnival and Tomorrowland.
That said, the resulting ambiance did feel transportive on occasion, and between the elaborate center-stage setup and the platforming of an entire side of the MGM Grand Garden for VIP—the only ticket option to sell out—the venue looked almost unrecognizable.
2. The supposed unification powers of the all-white dress code apparently work. It was certainly hard to zero in on one’s differences when everyone more or less looked the same. And then there’s this: I watched a group of bros approach a group of flamboyant gay men, huge them all and wish them a good time.
3. Speaking of gay, with the mandatory all-white dress code, Sensation looked like the raver equivalent of the sort of “white party” popular with the LGBT community, though far less cruisy (but only slightly less gropey).
4. I had low expectations of the music curation, and sure enough, the “EDM” (read: mainstream and template-reliant electronic dance music) sets of duo Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano and Sensation closer Michael Woods were reliably banal and predictable, inspiring plenty of what I like to call non-dancing dancing—something I found myself executing, but only after three Stella Artois tallboys. How the overplayed offerings of Lana Del Rey/Cedric Gervais and Zedd fit the “narrative” promised by Sensation seemed vague, unless of course the definition of “narrative” was meant to be interpreted very loosely (or, as loose as a potentially fickle Vegas crowd might demand).
A shame, because there was certainly the establishment of something evolutionary early on with opener Mr. White, who kicked things off with a dark, dubby set. (Not sure what to think of that downtempo version of Prince’s “1999,” though.) The jock that succeeded him, Sebastien Leger, stayed the house course with a fun and funky set, full of grooves that had revelers legitimately dancing and facing away from him. Pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve heard a track from Philadelphia house/techno pioneer Josh Wink’s label (Ovum) inside the Grand Garden—or anywhere at MGM, for that matter.
5. Many wondered how a dance event could be pulled off in an arena with thousands of seats, but not me. Los Angeles has been having DJ parties in sporting halls since 2000, and this affair felt no different than ones I attended 13 years ago. Plus, per the non-dancing dancing, the EDM crowd doesn’t dance. They shuffle in place and pump their fists in the air, and they don’t need much room to do that. And with the visual element promoted so heavily, Sensation had already conditioned its attendees to be more like an attentive audience than a boogie-down throng—which makes Sensation no different than going to a Strip megaclub, and right at home in Las Vegas.
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