Lil Texas touched down in California for sold-out stops of the NEED FOR SPEED World Tour, beginning in San Francisco at The Midway!
Late last year, America’s favorite hardcore cowboy, Lil Texas, announced the NEED FOR SPEED World Tour on the heels of his album under the same name. Since January, Lil Texas hit major cities like Toronto, Chicago, Las Vegas, and more. Perhaps the most important dates were this past weekend, when Lil Texas touched down in San Francisco for a packed show at The Midway, followed by a sold-out stop at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.
Ever since the initial announcement, I knew I needed to see Lil Texas at The Midway, which isn’t known for hard dance shows. However, nothing could have prepared me for the wild night that came to life. He curated an incredible lineup of Stateside talent and international heavy hitters from beginning to end.
The event started with DJ Flapjack, a certified OG for hard dance in America.
Mixing purely on vinyl, DJ Flapjack represents a bygone era of raving where PLUR spread through the dancefloors, fast music dominated warehouse speakers, and vibrant outfits made up a crowd of misfits. Luckily, DJ Flapjack is still active in the scene, and I highly recommend seeing him wherever you can to get a taste of what real DJing is.
Next up was the beloved slippery eel himself, gladde paling. I knew what I was in for when he came on stage, but he still blew me away with a set full of memes, disgusting drum and bass, terrible (in the best way) uptempo, and anything that got the crowd going. I loved that his set was carefully crafted yet came off as carefree, which is the ultimate sign of being a great performer. To top it all off, he threw in one of my favorite collaborations of the year, “greazy boi & slippy eel” with GPF.
Vieze Asbak and Natte Visstick then took the stage for one of the most insane B2B performances I’ve ever seen.
I’ve known Vieze Asbak to be a machine on the decks but had no idea what to expect together with Natte Visstick. These two Dutch artists brought the underground to the mainstage with the most brutal performance of the night. They threw in a bit of everything, like gabber, hardcore, hard techno, and tons of screeches. To add to their mystique, the identities of both artists are unknown. Like a thief in the night, these guys pulled up, destroyed, and disappeared without even saying a word.
Before the night ended, the queen of rawstyle, Mish, came to deliver pure hardstyle in an epic set.
Mish‘s bubbly personality and stunning outfits only add to the greatness of her work when she’s behind the decks. Fan favorites like “YEAHBOIII,” “HYPNOTISED,” THE MF SICKDROP,” and more blasted through the speakers as she brought a touch of AR Gang to the States. Mish also created some treats for US fans with edits of Cloonee’s “Stephanie” and Excision’s “Vault.” Although her US dates have been limited, she’s returning in May for EDC Las Vegas to perform at the mighty wasteLAND, so don’t miss her!
Even after a night full of carnage, mayhem, and destruction, there was still one more artist to carry the fans through to the exciting end: Lil Texas!
As the night’s headliner, Lil Texas delivered everything that was promised and more. Every time I’ve seen him, his sets have been different and extremely polarizing. That night, however, every raver in attendance loved everything he brought.
It’s been rare for me to attend a show and see everyone dancing and getting silly for the love of the music, but Lil Texas was this rare anomaly that I’ve missed so much. Ravers went on a hardcore journey from 150 to 1000 BPM throughout his set. Viral hits like “Spongebob” and “Voodoo,” the latest bangers by Shlømo and EQUAL2, and the gnarliest zaagkicks shook the dancefloor, making for the perfect end to a wild night.
The NEED FOR SPEED tour stop in San Francisco ended up being one of my favorite events of the year so far.
Being so engrossed in the music rarely happens for me anymore, but I’m happy that Lil Texas had me going hard the entire night. Taking a step back, Lil Texas made hard dance history with this stop and his Los Angeles stop the following night. Selling out the Hollywood Palladium and The Midway back to back almost doesn’t sound real, but that’s why it’s so important to acknowledge the greatness that he has shown.
Although the hard dance scene is strong in the States, nobody has brought it out like he has. A huge congratulations is due to Lil Texas and his team, the artists that stopped by, and every single raver that showed up and showed out, once again proving that hard dance is here to make so much noise until nobody can deny the movement.
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