If there’s one problem with hundreds of the world’s best DJs coming to town every year for Miami Music Week, it’s this: How in
The embarrassment of riches is a good problem to have, of course, with every lineup delivering cutting-edge beats. But British DJ/producer Gareth Emery’s Laserface Miami event stands out for its visuals — namely, a world-class laser show that promises to greatly enhance ravers’ sensory experiences.
“It’s the best lasers you’ve ever seen,” says Emery, who'll bring his party — including Tritonal, Omnia, Emma Hewitt, Gabriel & Dresden, and Luccio — to Mana Wynwood this Friday night. “That might sound boastful, but it’s just true. Our show designer, Anthony Garcia, is just an absolute wizard when it comes to lasers. So not only will we have an absolutely mind-boggling amount of lasers, but they’ll be perfectly synced to my set.”
Emery’s set will be heavy on progressive house and trance, including at least four or five high-energy, uplifting tracks from Kingdom United, his album with Ashley Wallbridge that's due to drop May 10.
“Ash and I have been making music together since 2011,” Emery says, “and it’s always a pleasure because our taste is basically exactly the same... We never argue or fall out about music because we like exactly the same things. And people seem to be into the music we make, so we figured we’d make a whole album of it.”
So how did Emery discover the laser wizard Garcia?
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Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019 / 7:00pm @ Hard Rock Live At The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel“It really started when I noticed a video that Anthony had uploaded to YouTube of a custom laser show he’d made to a Kaskade song,” Emery recalls. “And the level of the laser design blew me away. I immediately asked him if it was possible to use this technology for an actual show. I mean, I’d get lasers at clubs and festivals, but they never looked anything like this. Anthony told me we could do a similar thing live... and the rest is history.”
Emery is clearly stoked about giving his fans a topnotch show. But he's less concerned about being voted the best DJ: He famously dissed DJ Mag’s Top 100 rankings in 2013 even though he annually ranked high on the list.
“The whole thing is corrupt,” he says. “I don’t blame DJ Mag, though; they’re pretty decent people over there, and I get why they do it. It’s a huge cash cow for them: Every year they bring in an insane amount of advertising revenue from DJs desperate for favorable treatment in the list... I had years of playing that game — using every method to rack up votes, from spamming my fans’ email addresses to buying votes from Asian 'click farms,'
then paying DJ Mag huge amounts in advertising — and it just all felt a bit sordid. So one year I said fuck this, walked away from the whole thing, and it felt great. I was number seven at my peak, I think. Now I probably don’t even feature in the top 1,000, yet I’m selling 10,000 tickets in places I used to sell 1,000 tickets at when I was number seven. So I’m happy with the way things turned out.”Gareth Emery Presents Laserface Miami. 10 p.m. Friday, March 29, at Mana Wynwood, 318 NW 23rd St., Miami. Tickets cost $40 to $75 via tixr.com.
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