Horns are the Sriracha of music: they’re spicy, vibrant, and make just about everything better. That includes electronic dance music, as GRiZ made abundantly clear during a raucous 105-minute set at the Hollywood Palladium last week for the latest stop on his Ride Waves: Season 2 Tour.
Related: GRiZ Kicks Off ‘Ride Waves: Season Two’ Tour At Boston’s Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
With Halloween right around the corner, the artist otherwise known as Grant Kwiecinski transported a partly costumed crowd to another dimension with his distinctive brand of floor-rattling future-funk. The Michigan-born, Denver-based producer bounded between tapping on soundboards and belting out melodies through his saxophone, all the while surrounded by a spectacular display of flashing laser lights and colorful graphics.
For the uninitiated, however, GRiZ is hardly another case of one guy building endlessly toward drops and splashing around womps. Rather, the one-man show at the center of it all was surrounded by singers, rappers, guitars and, of course, more horns.
While GRiZ got fan bounce-bounce-bouncing to “My Friends and I Pt. 2”, he had the support of ProbCause, who was featured alongside Snoop Dogg on the studio version of the song on the Ride Waves album. While Wiz Khalifa and DRAM weren’t around to reprise their roles on “Find My Own Way” and “It Gets Better”, respectively, ProbCause extended his feature—as did pretty much all the other artists over the course of the evening.
Those accompaniments may be what makes GRiZ stand out from his stylistic peers in his particular corner of the EDM world. While acts like Pretty Lights, Gramatik and Big Gigantic generally keep their lineups small—even for live shows—GRiZ seems to have a certain ambition toward expanding the ranks of musicians in his company.
That says as much about GRiZ’s openness as an artist as it does about the broader appeal and eclectic nature of the music he makes. When surrounded by sonic talents of all types, that simple-but-effective structure that’s helped EDM take root can reach a whole new elevation.
Horns certainly have that power, too, as GRiZ made abundantly clear. But if the proliferation and popularity of artists like him is any indication, that street runs both ways, with EDM providing just as bright a palette for live instrumentation.
Scroll down to see some fan-shot videos from GRiZ’s performance at The Hollywood Palladium.
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GRiZ’s 2019 tour schedule will pick up again towards the end of the year with his scheduled appearance at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA on December 29th for HiJinx 2019. Head to his website for tickets and tour info.
Scroll down for a full gallery from GRiZ’s Hollywood Palladium performance, courtesy of photographer Josh Martin.
