WHP

Skrillex X Eat Your Own Ears

  • Four Tet

    Kieran Hebden known as Four Tet is a British electronic musician and DJ who has been producing and releasing music since the 90s. He has released many electronic albums under many different alias. He has collaborated with the likes of Burial and Steve Reid. He has 3.7 million monthly listens on his main Spotify account. He’s been described as the ‘God Father’ of music and has been a massive pioneer in the electronic music scene.

  • Fred Again

    Fred is a British born producer thats fairy new to the scene in comparison to Four Tet and Skrillex. He has co-written many popular sons suh as Rita Ora’s ’Let Me Love You’ and George Ezras ‘Shotgun’. In 2020 he released his first album, a collaboration with Grime artists Headie One. In the same year he won Producer of the Year at the Brits awards. He then catapulted to popularity after his 2022 Boiler Room set and now gained over 13 million streams monthly on Spotify.

  • Skrillex

    Sonny Moore known as Skrillex is an American music producer and DJ making Dubstep, Edm and Electro House. He has won eight Grammy awards (the most that any electronic producer has ever won). Skrillex has been around since the early 2000s and has many chart hits such as ‘Where are U Now’ featuring Justin Beiber which has over a billion steams on Spotify. Skrillex is insanely popular across the globe gaining a ridiculous 19 million monthly listens on Spotify.

In Manchester, dance music lovers piled into the Depot Mayfield Warehouse Project for a night of electronic music, dubstep and a lot of dancing. The rainy streets of Manchester were full of noise and chaos, almost foreshadowing the night ahead. Skrillex, Peggy Gou and Four Tet were set to take the stage for four hours of experimental madness. 

Skrillex and Four Tet are legends of the electronic music scene and have paved the way for many DJs. Peggy Gou has exploded onto the scene in the last few years with classics like ‘Starry Night’ and ‘(It Goes Like) Nanana’ so the lineup for this event curated by Skrillex was one not to be missed. Skrillex and Four Tet took to the stage together this summer to headline Coachella alongside Fred Again, performing an amazing back-to-back set. Followed by Four Tet recently teased an upcoming album to be released later this year, so the excitement ran high for this performance as we all wondered what was to come.

After a hectic journey from London to Manchester before we had arrived at the venue, the news broke that Peggy Gou had to pull out of performing. Yet another spanner in the works for what had already seemed to be a string of unfortunate events in the lead-up to this event as every train from London to Manchester has been cancelled or delayed. We finally made it to the Depot in time for Skin on Skins set on the Concourse stage, we got there by the skin of our teeth (no pun intended). 

A perfect way to kick off the evening, the Concourse stage is my personal favourite at this venue.It’s smaller than the Depot stage and the building holds the sound so well. Not to mention the soundsystem is out of this world. There are also many different areas where you can dance, the main area, behind the decks and on a balcony, with a view of the whole stage and crowd.The way the stage is set out, you feel like you’re close to the booth even if you aren’t standing behind it. When I moved into the main crowd I could still see the booth really well. It felt so intimate as if I could reach out and touch the decks. Skin on Skin is one of my favourite DJs at the moment too, I love the combination of tech-house and techno merged with some grime tracks as well as some melodic floaty beats. It’s a real mix of genres and I felt as though I was being thrown from beat to beat trying to keep up it was so fun and there was so much energy in the room, as there always is when he is DJing.

The lighting in this room is also awe-inspiring. At one point the lighting created an effect that looked as though the walls of the room were melting, I felt as though I were melting into the crowd and the song as if I were a part of the beat. 

After a little break. I caught a little glimpse of HAAI whom I’d never seen live before, on the same stage, but this time watching from the balcony. This is the best place to stand in my opinion because the sound system is really good, but you can also enjoy watching the crowd. Sometimes I’d rather do this than actually being in the crowd. There is something extraordinary about watching thousands of people’s reactions to the music being played. It’s interesting to watch as the DJ almost has full control over a mass crowd of people. It’s so fascinating to watch people's body language match each overs and shift as the set plays out. 

Now for the main event…we made our way to the Depot stage. This stage is the biggest and I find the sound escapes which can be quite annoying, just in comparison to the Concourse stage where the sound is held very well. I decided to stand in my favourite place, right in the middle towards the back where the sound and light techs are. This is where the sound is the best, having stood in the centre of the room in front of the sound techs before I didn’t think the sound system sounded as good but in a room of that magnitude, it’s tricky to find the perfect sound balance.

As Peggy Gou had pulled out prior, rumours swirled around the warehouse all evening. Many people speculated and came up with their own theories of what might happen. No one was sure what to expect, but this set was everything I could have expected and more. To begin Four Tet opened with soft sweet harmonies, it felt like being greeted by an old friend after a long time. There was a sense of familiarity and trust in the air as though the crowd felt he was going to look after us through a time of doubt and unknowing.

He started slowly, almost teasing the crowd. It felt as though everyone was on the edge of their seats though we were all standing. I felt everyone was wondering what the hell was going to happen with this set. Then the atmosphere changed as he swiftly transformed the room into a fast-paced dance floor transfixing people’s energy on the music as we rode the waves of the rhythms he provided.

He worked his way with the crowd mixing his own music such as ‘Looking At Your Pager’ and the likes of Taylor Swifts' ‘Love Story’. A song that I remember dancing to with my best friend in my bedroom when we were about 10. I felt like my younger self would be blown away to know that my now favourite DJ was playing that song. It was like my childhood and adulthood dreams had come true, creating a strange nostalgic feeling.

Rumours were bubbling around the warehouse as people began to speculate who would be replacing Peggy Gou. The next thing we knew, to everyone’s surprise; Four Tet, Fred Again and Skrillex were all on stage… it was like Coachella round two. I could not believe my eyes, never in a million years did I expect that when I got myself the tickets. I could watch as the crowd erupted with energy. Knowing the crowd, that is what everyone was secretly wanting but not wanting to get our hopes up.

Fred Again is currently dominating the electronic music scene along with Four Tet, it's almost as though Kieran (Four Tet) is preparing him to ‘pass the torch on’ to become the next music god in the scene for the next generation of dance music lovers. Seeing all three of them on stage together we knew we were in for a special night. I couldn’t stop thinking to myself… a few hours ago I was expecting to come all this way for half an hour of Four Tet… and I’ve been blessed with this. What more could I ask for, Skin On Skin also joined them on stage as they performed his track ‘Burn Dem Bridges’ a really popular song at the moment produced by him, the song is a smooth combination of techno house and grime and is a real crowd mover.


My mind was well and truly blown, I felt like a tiny rubber bouncy ball being bounced from speaker to speaker. Like I was trying to play catch with the different sounds being tossed around the room, but I just couldn’t catch them. By the time I felt as though I'd caught up with the beat, another one began. It's hard to explain but I couldn’t stop laughing at the idea. At one point during the song ‘Nova’ I felt like I could have been lying in a hammock being gently swayed by the beats like they were carrying me along. As if I were floating along a gentle wave. Standing directly in line with Kieran I could see his body language as he got excited to mix the next tracks, I felt as if I were there with him on stage.

When the time came for Skrillex, again I had no idea what to expect but I could see the sound and light technicians' anticipation and excitement take over. I can’t say I know his music that well. I wouldn’t sit here and lie and say I'd be listening to Bangarang as I walk to uni, I simply wouldn’t. My mind is full of enough chaos and noise and that’s probably the only way I could describe Skrillex’s set, CHAOS AND NOISE. I don’t need more of that in my brain. It’s one of the reasons I love Four Tet’s music, it complements the chaos in my brain and slows my mind down, which sometimes I really need.

That being said, no disrespect to Skrillex, the man KNOWS MUSIC. Whatever I was expecting from this set (and I honestly don’t know what that was) …. it was not. Every time I thought he was going to take it in one direction, I felt like he went sprinting in a completely different one. Like you’re driving down the A1 about to turn left and instead, you just veer across the junction and go right.

One minute I was dancing to the classic throwback ‘Where Are U Now’ featuring Justin Bieber, a classic school time throwback for me. Then within minutes, I felt like I should be running and hiding. As I felt it sounded like music I’d be chased with an axe to, the lights were equally as intense as the music and at one point I had to turn around and not look because it was a complete sensory overload. Every single sense I could possibly feel, I could feel and I needed a break. The lighting fixtures in this room also create a canvas of LED strobes and lasers, you could not escape if you tried, you just have to let yourself absorb into it. In a matter of seconds, I went from feeling this nostalgic high - to feeling terrified for my life (it sounds dramatic but I was honestly scared and didn’t know where to look).

The only way in which I could sum up this event would be ‘you didn't have to..but you did’. Skin on Skin didn't have to show up suited and booted (literally) and deliver a masterpiece of a set…but he did. Four Tet did not need to fill in a whole set with no warning and just make it up as he went along but of course, he did and of course, it was PERFECT (as expected the man is a sound wizard). Fred Again didn’t need to surprise us like that and DELIVER but he did… and Skrillex well … he didn’t have to take it to that extreme but he did and hats off to him that man is a genius.