Joshua Steele, best known as Flux Pavilion, made a pit stop in Toronto on May 4th as part of his Around the World in 80 Raves grand tour – accompanied by Kayzo, Moksi, and a special guest who helped turn up the hype and revel with us, on that rainy Thursday evening.
I hadn’t been to UNIUN Nightclub in some while, and forgot how unbelievably hot the room could get, to the point that I could feel the heat emanating from people standing a foot away from me. Regardless of the sweltering heat, endless sweat, and inability to move, every single face in the crowd was lit up with a smile from start to finish, thanks to a night dedicated to going all in and getting lost to the bass and colourful caucophony happening all around.
Moksi
I arrived at UNIUN to the Netherlands’ duo Moksi on stage; they delivered some solid future house to an already-packed room, to warm everybody up. With that night being their Canadian debut, they put so much energy into their entire set – especially when they got the room bouncing with their remix of Oliver Heldens‘ ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Home‘. As their set progressed, things started taking a turn, following their joint track with Yellow Claw, ‘Open‘; the duo started turning over to some higher-energy, harder-hitting tracks to prepare us for the madness around the corner.
Once Moksi wrapped up, we were all expecting Kayzo to hop on stage, yet the Dark Queen herself, REZZ, showed up instead. As we cheered in half-ecstasy, half-confusion, Kayzo shortly made his REAL appearance, and unleashed a set which caused the crowd to simultaneously headbang and show off their fancy footwork. Meanwhile, he’s going off behind the decks just as much as we were in the crowd. REZZ made a re-appearance about halfway through his set; Kayzo gave her a warm welcome, right before he spewed out her track ‘Purple Gusher‘ – which we all lost our minds to.
Kayzo
As all of this was happening, there was a steady mosh pit that gradually increased in size as the night went on. One of the only pockets of the room where the heatwave partially diffused, you’d have to be willing to get caught in the storm to feel a “fresh” breeze. On the other hand, going outside for some air was a refreshing cool down, thanks to the continuous rain throughout the night. A good number of us were literally steaming as the rain evaporated from our skin.
At around 1am, the crowd felt like it had reached an all-time heat record – we were all drenched in sweat, trying to catch our breath from the insurmountable energy expended during Kayzo’s set. Flux walked onto the stage, and started off with a double-loaded cannon – opening with ‘Cannonball,’ his collab with Snails, before transitioning into his classic tune, ‘Bass Cannon.’
There was one question I couldn’t stop asking myself all night, upon entering the club – when and if he was going to play that one particular song. Sure enough, not even half an hour into his set, he played it – once the crowd heard ‘I Can’t Stop‘, everybody magically caught a second wind. People put their hands so high up in the air; headbangers were swinging and lurching their bodies at full force; the moshers quickly filled the circle and let loose, while tossing their fallen brethren back onto their feet, wasting no time nor energy.
The man, Flux Pavilion
Near the end, before he called it for the night, he grabbed the mic, and asked a simple request. “Before I got to bed and get a good sleep, is it cool if I play one more track?”
We cheered with whatever voices we had left, and to end off the night, he played his remix of DJ Fresh’s ‘Gold Dust’. Those near the active mosh zone started nudging people back, to create the biggest circle of the night. Once the drop hit and all hell broke loose, the fog machines came on full blast. Amidst the haze, I couldn’t help but smile, both to how amazing the night was overall, in conjunction with the added element of surprise, not knowing when/where the next basshead was going to charge at me from.
Flux and the gang continue on their journey, and are currently about halfway through the US segment of the tour, which concludes at Stereo Live in Dallas on June 10th. Who knows where the rest of the world tour will see Flux afterwards – wherever he goes though, there’s bound to be a path of bass-fueled mayhem left in his wake.
Check out more pictures from the rowdy evening, courtesy of FUXWITHIT’s own Nick T.
