And so our society has come to this: The world’s top tech house producer and DJ wears a mouse head. Or rather, a Mau5head. It’s amazing the Mau5isms you can come up with if you try. “Mau5ed up” (amped), “Mau5ed out” (tired after 10 hours of jamming to tech house), “I’ll meet you at your Mau5” (see you at your place). Etcetera.

It’s testament to this tech house phenomenon then, that his stage persona and the hype around it can enter popular culture so easily. Especially when you meet the man behind the Mau5. Which we had the privilege of doing at his pre-gig press conference in Camps Bay.

Joel Zimmerman looks like he could barely pick up a PlayStation controller, let alone single-handedly play one the planet’s most innovative live dance sets we personally have ever witnessed. Thin, pale but, of course, tatted up the wazoo, this pasty Canadian puts on a show worthy of much bigger men. In fact, he transforms on stage to dominate any space he plays in. He grows into something 10 foot tall, something can’t help but be transfixed by. He’s like the Incredible Hulk, if the large green comic legend had residency in Ibiza.

Shy, even soft-spoken, Deadmau5 has that semi-infuriating calmness that is common amongst the near-genius. Quizzed about various topics, perhaps he best came across when he was asked, “Do you go out clubbing anymore”. He answered, “I don’t really feel like I need to, you know? My job is “out”, so why would I?”

He talked candidly about his dislike of cheese, as well as his feelings on the current behemoth that is dub-step, saying that he reckons it’s a “phase” that the dance world is going through. Methinks he is on to something.

One of the most interesting points (well, for us, anyway) is that his Mau5heads are now made by the Jim Henson Workshop in California. Yep, the same guys who do the Muppets.

And so onto Thursday 1^st Dec: Mau5 live in CT. We arrived expecting a medium-scale dance gig in the same vein as Armin Van Buuren, perhaps. What we got was 20 000 Mau5ed-up fans rocking out like the world was ending. OK, many were young enough to get you a couple of decades with Bubba, but the vibe was (pun totally intended) ELECTRIC.

With more of a festival atmosphere than a one-off gig at the CTICC, this was a monster of a live show. Homemade Mau5heads were everywhere. One dude had even installed green flashing lights in his. A serious Mau5topia indeed.

Opening acts were fair to middling. Tommy Gun and Ivan were solid, Roger Goode played his usual safe-as-fuck mix, and then some muscular dude in a wife-beater came on to warm the crowd up for the Mau5. We hadn’t heard of DJ Louis before (in fact he looks rather like a South Jo’burg bouncer than a DJ), but his electro house beats certainly did what they were intended to do.

By the time Deadmau5 came on, the crowd were frothed up like a good cappuccino. From the minute young Joel came onto stage, he blew everyone’s heads off. His cubist 3D lightbox set-up was nothing short of face-melting.

And the music. Oh the music. A two and half hour aural mash-up of his best all blended and played with unique live twists as only he can do. Picks of the set were an extended mix of Strobe, a dabble into his most famous tunes (Faxing Berlin, Not Exactly, Moar Ghosts and Stuff etc) and, of course, his radio belter Raise Your Weapon. This little lot left the crowd wet. Literally. In fact, he played over his two hour set time as he was clearly having too much fun with us to stop. We didn’t even notice he hadn’t played an encore set, but by midnight none of us cared. We’d been Mau5ed good and proper.

The word is Deadmau5 was so impressed with SA, he’s vowed to come back bigger next year. We’re there. You should be too.

(Post by James Armstrong)

(Images provided by author)