Steve Aoki: The Marc’s 11 Year Anniversary at The Marc

Benjamin Kenyon

Rap/Hip-Hop Assistant

Last Month, San Marcos’ The Marc celebrated its 11th anniversary of operation with a night of music headlined by DJ Steve Aoki.

After being told that conveniently the venue had just run out of media passes, I set out to find a spot I could take in the show as well as take somewhat coherent notes. One look at the wall-to-wall horde that had amassed on the floor in front of the stage led to me opting to move to the slightly less crowded upstairs. I settled on the outskirts of the VIP section, the most inclusive view I could find, although I found myself being pushed every which way and at times being yelled at to move by various bouncers, bussers and bottle-service girls, of which there were plenty, their presence announced by a makeshift portable train horn, a sound now burned into my brain.

Many of those ordering said bottle service spent portions of the show throwing cash (bill size undiscoverable from my vantage point) on to the fans in general admission below. After a minute or two of silence following the night’s final openers, the crowd which had been growing restless perked up as space visual/animation began playing, Aoki’s distinct silhouette flashing intermittently as the music built up, flashing faster and faster as the buildup to the drop crescendoed.

Aoki’s set was an hour and a half of complete sensory experiences, the videoboard behind the stage alternating between song-specific visualizers, music videos and other psychedelic animations. Sporadically throughout the night, smoke cannons reenergized the crowd The setlist consisted of remixes and reworkings of an assortment of modern pop hits, aught’s dance classics and Gen-Z childhood staples. One of the most memorable moments of the concert came in the form of a mashup of the vocals from Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” being mixed over the instrumental from Rihanna and Calvin Harris’ “We Found Love”, accompanied with snippets from Swift’s seminal accompanying music video. Another just a few songs later, when Aoki drastically shifted from the sound of the night to play Daddy Yankee’s 2004 hit “Gasolina”.

At around 1:58 in the waning minutes of the set, Aoki began his end of show ritual of launching cakes into the crowd. I lost an exact count but by the end of the night he must have launched around a dozen at his rowdiest supporters, most of which atop fellow concert goer’s shoulders brandishing signs begging for a chance to be caked. The caking led into the closing song of the night, Aoki’s rendition of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness”. All in all, the night was a complete sensory experience, one that left me physically exhausted but mentally wide awake and satisfied on my walk home.