Playadipity
I was about to head home when one of my jams started emanating from a nearby art car. I told my pals I had to dance, and they dipped out. I climbed this structure, where a bunch of people were dancing at various levels. I shared a spot on the third level of the pyramid with a fellow who was cutting a rug and smiling. We danced most of a song, while I looked out over the crowd and the hundreds of lit-up works of art on the horizon, before I realized the DJ was Diplo. Skrillex stood by his side.
The next evening my friends pointed at a fire in the distance, wondering what art installation it had been. It was the same pyramid I’d climbed onto and danced the night before.
Now in truth, that song I danced my tush off to during the Diplo set was the best song he played, and I got bored halfway through Skrillex’s set and wandered off. One of the best DJ sets I’ve seen was by Diplo, the man just has incredible range. But lately he gets a little too into the nasty bass-smashy stuff, as most DJs do. He has some incredibly good remixes (e.g. the link above) but he rarely plays them in his live sets.
But it was worth it for those three minutes of dance heaven. And if I had any doubt in my mind about the decision to stay, seeing that platform burn made me cling fast to that memory. Not only was the work of art I stood on gone, but that moment was gone too. Every moment is gone, the question is what do you do with it? Seeing the fire is a catalyst to action.
The Wombats – Techno Fan (Diplo Remix)
From my Burning Man dance mix