Flume proves why he’s sold out four straight nights at The Shrine

Photo courtesy of The Shrine’s Twitter.

Thursday afternoon, I was sitting at home thinking I was gonna catch the Indigo Girls over at the Fonda Theatre with a friend. Then I got an e-mail from FYF Fest saying I had won two tickets to one of Flume‘s four sold-out nights at The Shrine and my plans changed.

FYF Fest had advertised in their e-mail newsletter saying to e-mail them with a choice of what day you wanted to see Flume and they’d be picking winners on Thursday. I had gone to Coachella with my roommates and during Flume’s set, they made note that I looked strikingly similar to the Aussie producer/DJ extraordinaire, no doubt due to him rocking a mustache at the time — a look I’ve taken on out of laziness more than anything. So I included in my e-mail to FYF Fest how Flume was my doppelganger, complete with pictures of the two of us. I have no clue if that helped my cause, but I got the e-mail saying I had won the tickets. Two of my roommates had gone to the Flume show the previous night for $50 a pop, so I took one of our other roommates Alan to the show that night.

I met Alan at The Shrine around 10 PM, missing Vince Staples’ opening set in the process. No big loss, Staples has hit the festival circuit as hard as anyone and I’ve seen a few of his sets along the way. Flume was set to take the stage at 10:20. Before I picked up my tickets at will call, I walked along the outside of The Shrine and saw one girl sitting down puking her guts out while her other friend tried coaxing her into the back of an Uber. Crossing my fingers that went alright for everyone involved. I also saw one girl reciting the address off the ID her friend was holding, no doubt trying to memorize it in an effort to get into this 18-and-over show.

By the time we got in, the 5,000-capacity floor of The Shrine was packed. It’s easy to see why Flume has blown up to the level he has — pretty much every demographic was represented on the floor (though it skewed younger, for sure). We found a spot towards the middle, and with The Shrine being a completely flat surface, it wasn’t the best vantage point. But with the level of Flume’s stage production, it was still a good enough spot to enjoy the theatrics of it all.

For being a Thursday night, a good majority of the crowd was dressed like it was a weekend night. I can also say it was a very attractive crowd all around. Once Flume kicked into his set after a lengthy intro that sounded like something Radiohead would do, people got fired up. It honestly took a few songs for me to really get into it — for as awesome as Flume’s music is it’s not the most danceable electronic stuff out there. He hit his stride with me when he played “On Top” a handful of songs into his set — that was the first Flume song I really fell in love with.

Once he launched into his remix of Lorde’s “Tennis Court,” I was fully invested. “This is my jam!” I shouted to the pretty girl to my left. She laughed, probably thinking I was kidding, but once I began singing all the words she knew I wasn’t kidding. The best run of tracks from his set was when he played his track “Say It” that has Tove Lo provide vocals, followed by his remix of Disclosure’s “You & Me.”

The light show that accompanied his set was really impressive, especially since it was a completely different feel than what he had at Coachella back in April. He’s really kicked up the level of production on his tour in support of his second album Skin. His show is also not a bad place to go and be single. The vibe goes pretty well with trying to chat up members of the opposite sex. Just to nail that point home, my goofy white-dancing self was able to get the phone number of the girl to my left somehow.

The show wrapped up around 11:45 or so, we made it back home and some kindhearted soul left the hot tub on in our backyard, so we got to soak for a bit before calling it a night. Not bad at all for a Thursday night. I’ve seen Flume a handful of times only at festivals (Sasquatch, Coachella, Hangout) and I enjoyed myself much more at his own show. It felt like with his festival sets it took him a few songs to hit his groove and by then, his hour-long set was nearly over. He fully takes advantage of that extra 30 minutes.

CHECK OUT FLUME’S VIDEO FOR “SAY IT” (FT. TOVE LO) AND THE SETLIST FROM THURSDAY NIGHT’S SHOW AT THE SHRINE: