Finally in 2024, just a couple of months ago actually, we got a shiny new Zedd album. Telos, whose cover art features a cathedralesque image of a stained glass seascape and, strangely, no text, is a strong return for the Russian-German producer and DJ. Sonically, it’s exactly what you’d expect—with songs like ‘No Gravity’ (Ft. Bava), ‘Automatic Yes’ (with John Mayer), and ‘Out of Time’ (with Bea Miller)—it’s what his fans have yearned for for the last 9 years. And yes, True Colors was released nine years ago. But Zedd’s music is the kind that demands a live audience, a light show, and a 50-foot tall metal apparatus with lasers looming over the DJ deck. So of course that’s what he brought to the Telos US Tour.
Houston got its taste of the EDM Master’s new music on Saturday, September 28 when the tour stopped at Space City’s beloved 713 Music Hall for a massively sold out downtown dance party. Though Anton Zaslavksi, AKA Zedd, was not the only performer.
The show started strong with the British House stylings of Ellis (Ellis Lawrie) who, frankly, had some of the most creative transitions we’ve ever heard from an opener. He had the room switching from Shakira to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, even throwing it way back to Darude’s ‘Sandstorm.’ He has a song on Telos with Zedd and Bea Miller (of X Factor fame) called ‘Tangerine Rays’ which got a feature. No shade whatsoever to the headliner, who was incredible, but Ellis’s might just have been our favorite set of the night.
The second opener, Dutch DJ and producer Melle Kiet Stomp (stage name: Mesto) delivered an energetic set that felt a little like the love child of Martin Garrix and Illenium. Maybe the former isn’t such a coincidence given that the two were both born in Amstelveen, a suburb of Amsterdam. The young producer features in songs by both Zedd (‘Descensus’), and Martin Garrix (‘Breakaway’, ‘Limitless’, and ‘WIEE’).
The only criticism I’ll wage is to mention a, though not unusual for the genre, distinct lack of staging during the two opening sets. Just a black DJ booth and some lights on auto, it seemed. Not that the lighting wasn’t top tier—it was just so generic, and the music was so not.
As Zedd presumably crouched behind the DJ booth in front of what can only be described as an EDM peacock train (a 50-foot tall half moon of metal arms holding lights, lasers, and god knows what else) waiting for the first song’s intro, a cascade of fog floated across the stage and into the crowd. The photo pit became the castle’s moat, overflowing with fog, making the DJ booth the castle, in this metaphor.
And so the king rose from behind the booth as the first song, ‘Starving’ rang out into the massive music hall. For the first three songs, the audience was treated to a lush light show and classic heartfelt songs from Zedd’s older catalog. But when he switched to ‘Follow You Down’ they got the full picture: Pyrotechnics, Steam jets, lasers, and the works. The standout moment of the night was a brilliant remix of Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’ where the German DJ teased the audience, cadence after cadence, with the beat drop, finally delivering it to a roaring crowd.
Zedd’s Telos US tour will start again in Seattle (another sold out show) before playing four shows in San Francisco (only one of those isn’t sold out) and finishing off at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado (not sold out, don’t miss this one!) So if you’re wondering whether to brave the long lines, pack into a 5000+ person music hall, and dance your little heart out to the master of melodic EDM, well, for us, it’s an automatic yes.
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