Porter Robinson & Madeon w/ San Holo and Robotaki
WaMu Theater, Seattle, WA
12.10.16

After the release of their collaborative single “Shelter” back in August, the success of the Porter Robinson and Madeon joint “Shelter Live” tour was inevitable. Many shows sold out as quickly as they were added, and people were scrambling to buy astronomically overpriced tickets the night of their show at Seattle’s WaMu Theater.

The show started off with Robotaki warming up the crowd. While it was an enjoyable set, and everyone got pretty hyped about the first act of the night, it followed a pretty basic rise, fall, rise, fall pattern that began to feel repetitive as his hour went on. Next up was San Halo with a set that was energetic and fun from start to finish. Mixing everything from Fetty Wap, to Pixies, to Tove Lo, you never quite knew where the set was going, just that it was going to be a good time. Filled with many original mixes of crowd favorites, along with some of his own original tracks, San Holo’s set was well rounded and it was humbling to see someone so grateful for the opportunity to be playing Seattle that night.

After a quick set change, the lights dimmed and you could just barely hear a bit of noise over the loud cheers from a sold-out Wamu theater before the screams increased as Porter Robinson and Madeon ran to their places on stage. The stage setup was simple: the two guys splitting center, surrounded by all their gear, one tall LED screen behind each of them, and one large screen covering the entire back of the stage.

The opening of their combined set started off with a mix of the tracks to come later in the performance. The mix began with part of “Shelter,” then later branched off in all sorts of directions, including the hooks from “Divinity,” “Fresh Static Snow,” and “You’re On.” Their performance pulled out all the stops. From constant animations on the screens, fireworks, and flame type pyrotechnics, to classic confetti blasts during the biggest bass drops, there was always something going on.

On top of the visual aspects of the show, the music was incredible. Robinson and Madeon were a perfect match for each other, and their dual set was simply incredible. The performance included top hits from each artist, but brought them about in a new way, showing each other’s influence on the track. For example, the intro to “Fresh Static Snow” (Porter Robinson) is one of my favorite hooks of all time, however after that great intro, the track just goes downhill. The remainder of the song is still good, but simply seems so underwhelming, especially in the first minute or so. When the beginning of it began to ring through the crowd later in the set, I was really interested to see what they were going to do with it. Of course, I was not let down. Robinson and Madeon took the intro, mixed it with some older songs, and some new tracks, in a way that I thought filled it out much more nicely, and it definitely had one of the better bass drops of the night.

Another thing that made their dual set so phenomenal was how easy it was to get lost in. It didn’t seem to directly follow any strict rise/fall/rise/fall pattern; it just flowed in its own direction with no dull moments. While the bass drops were intense, crazy, and always amazing, we were never sitting around just waiting for those specific parts to give you enough to have a good time.

While I like each of their individual albums very much, I’m not a huge fan of their only official track together “Shelter.” It’s not a bad track, I just think it sounds a little basic and uninspired—the kind of track you could probably find anywhere at Coachella. Given that this was literally the “Shelter Live Tour,” I wasn’t sure exactly how great the night would be, but figured it would be worth a shot. I highly doubt anyone there regretted going after seeing that performance though, myself included. The two artists thrived off each other’s sound, and their dual set was somehow so much better than what either of them have created on their own. It was a night I will not soon forget, and was hopefully a great way for them to end their tour together.

Review by Lulu Dawson
Photos by Zach Etahiri

Porter Robinson & Madeon

San Holo

Robotaki