Zeds Dead and ZITP
I saw Zeds Dead at FH on Friday before going to ZITP on Saturday, and I need to say: I was really underwhelmed by Zeds Dead, and blown away by Porter Robinson.
I was in the bowl for Zeds Dead, so not the best seats/sound, but I felt like their set was pretty low energy, relied super heavily on old slow hip hop flips, and really lacked effective transitions. They were letting every other song echo out before hitting play on the next one. I’ve seen Zeds Dead 4 times and nothing about this set felt new.
Then the next day Porter has me locked in by the first drop, and proceeds to go tf off for the entire set, playing fresh versions of all his hits and really smoothly transitioning from one song to the next. It was my 3rd Porter DJ set and the best one I’ve seen yet.
Especially for this being Zeds Dead’s pre-hiatus tour, I came away feeling like they are lacking inspiration and direction. Having seen Griz pre and post hiatus, I thought his sound and direction were way more thoughtful and energetic than ZD. And Porter’s ability to endlessly and creatively remix his songs for new contexts just made me feel like ZD are coasting and not really innovating.
No hate to Zeds Dead or anyone who enjoyed their show! But just wondering if others feel the same way.