For those of you not flocking south for Spring Scream, there is no shortage of parties to keep you busy in Taipei this weekend.
Swedish house music prodigy Avicii, born Tim Bergling, plays tonight at Nangang 101 (南港101). The 23-year-old DJ has spent the past four years pumping out so much chart-topping electronic music that in 2011 he took the sixth spot of DJ Mag’s illustrious Top 100 DJ list, just behind Deadmau5, Tiesto and David Guetta. He is the youngest DJ to make the top 10.
“While I’m relatively new to the scene, I’ve been working around the clock on productions for years,” said Avicii in an interview with the Taipei Times. “I started out as a producer and I believe it’s my productions that define me.”
Photo courtesy of Invaders Music
On finding fame while he was just barely out of high school, Avicii said the reality of it all just hit him recently.
“The first time I actually realized I made it was just a couple weeks ago when I was headlining the Ultra Music Festival in Miami. It’s the festival that is every DJ’s dream to headline,” he said.
When he debuted his most recent remix to kick off his set at Ultra, which was a song from Madonna’s new album MDNA, the pop star herself made an appearance to introduce the DJ and told the crowd of hipsters that he was amazing and that she was a fan.
Photo courtesy of Room 18
“It was such an amazing experience to be on stage with such an iconic figure in the music industry,” he said of the experience.
Avicii’s first visit to Asia was in December of last year, and he enjoyed it so much that he wanted to come back and play in the cities he missed.
“It’s so different than everywhere else in the world, so it’s a bit like being on vacation while I am working,” said the DJ, who is off to play at Coachella in Indio, California, next week.
Photo courtesy of Room 18
“I’m launching a full production Arena Tour in the US in May/June, which is going to showcase something never seen before in our industry,” said Avicii. “I also have an exciting project geared especially towards Asia, but I can’t say too much about that just yet.”
Tickets are still available for Avicii tonight at Nangang 101, 71 Xingnan St, Taipei City (台北市興南街71號). They can be purchased at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks for NT$1,800, which is also the door price. Shogun, Claudia Re, Toby, Sam, Baobao, Blue, Ank and Nova join Avicii on the lineup. Doors open at 9pm.
Also tonight, the newly renovated Room 18 officially reopens with a performance by Lil Jon (real name Jonathan Smith,). The media has dubbed the artist the “King of Crunk” after his signature style of hip-hop.
“The word crunk means energy,” Lil Jon once explained of his style to Vanity Fair magazine. “Crank means to get it going, crunk means it’s going. ‘We’re going to get crunk tonight’ means we’re going to have a lot of energy, we’re going to party, we’re going to get crazy.”
You can experience crunk firsthand tonight with Lil Jon while taking in Room 18’s fresh makeover. With customer service in mind, the main room has been expanded, and the additional entrance inside Neo 19 has been reopened to help alleviate long queues.
The renovation also boasts a new hanging LED system that reacts to the music.
Lil Jon performs tonight at Room 18, B1, 88 Songren Road, Taipei City (台北市松仁路88號B1), tel: 0958-111-188. Doors open at 10:30pm. Admission is NT$1,500, which includes three drinks.
And finally, for those who are heading to Kenting this weekend, it looks like the dance parties that were rumored to have been banned, will now take place.
While Spring Scream’s party is the main event, there are a handful of electronic music gigs also taking place in Kenting over the weekend.
The organizers of Moonlight have renamed the event the Taiwan Electronic Carnival and moved it to Baishawan (墾丁白沙灣, white sand beach). As of press time, the party must finish by midnight. More information on this event is available at www.facebook.com/taiwandancecarnival.
The Spring Music Festival (春電混樂) is the only party officially scheduled to run past midnight. Its Web site says the event will go on until 4:30am. Details can be found at springscream.hotkt.com/springscream.htm.
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