Audien kicks off Escapism Tour at Chicago's Concord Music Hall [Review/Photos] – EDM All Day

Progressive house poster child, Audien‘s had this EDM game down pat for some 10 odd years now.

At just 27 years old, he’s among the most tried-and-true talent in the new wave of dance music’s ever-expanding rolodex. His most recent studio album released this year, Escapism, spanned the length of his technicolor production pedagogy. Within the LP, he by no means “reinvents the wheel” as he noted, but rather harnesses the progressive and dance pop prowess he’s been cultivating for a decade now, with some warranted experimentation to boot.

Audien’s Escapism Tour commenced at Concord Music Hall, a rather intimate venue known to invite a range of artistry in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood. The Grammy-nominated DJ filled the space, which allowed for multi-platform lower-level and balcony vantage points of Audien’s aerial cityscape visuals—which felt fitting for the tour’s Windy City debut. Attendees got, unsurprisingly, a fair diversity of music, doused in nostalgia, with Audien’s own sprawling catalog filling the lion’s share of the track list.

What he may lack in stage presence he more than accounts for in song curation. Audien played to his eager, predominately early-20-something crowd with precision. He unfurled spirited selections accessible for any fan of popular music, like his future bass Halsey remix, “Colors,” and his collaborative venture, “Something Better” with country crossover trio, Lady Antebellum.

Mixed in with the chromatic dance pop landscapes of the set were, of course, progressive gems like Eric Prydz’s “Every Day,” and even some dubstep—as he’s known to sprinkle on his sets from time to time.

Audien’s tour will run through the end of this year, wrapping things up in in Vancouver on New Year’s Day. More information and tickets to the remaining stops are available here.

Photos by: Noah Semeria & Julian Romano