Excision’s show took place at the Fillmore in Charlotte, a music venue created out of a renovated textile mill. The Fillmore is located on a strip of other clubs called the North Carolina Music Factory, that’s always buzzing with nightlife. These buildings are home to World, AvidXchange Music Factory, and the Fillmore’s second stage, The Underground. The Fillmore itself hosts many concerts from an array of artists such as Papa Roach, K. Flay, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Baby Metal, and TECH N9NE. On top of Excision, the venue has featured a great number of amazing electronic artists like RL Grime, Slushii, Above & Beyond, San Holo, and Clean Bandit. The show started out with some amazing opening acts, each a dubstep artist with their own unique style. First up was MONXX, a Riddim producer best known for his track “The Wonky Song” with Walter Wilde. His style was completely out of the ordinary with hard hitting drums and ridiculous chops that kept the audience on their toes the entire set. Everyone just arriving at the show rushed to the dancefloor to get in on the action. Although the show had only just started, MONXX brought energy and established the tone for the rest of the show from the first song he played. Dion Timmer came out towards the last five minutes of his set and debuted their brand-new collaboration for the second time live, whose title is yet to be announced.Dion Timmer was next up, and did not hold back at all. He has been nothing short of impressive in the last year with his release of his “Textacy EP” and his recent collaboration with Modestep, “Going Nowhere”. His mix of different genres both in his records and at his live shows is very refreshing, always keeping the crowd wondering what’s coming next. Dion’s set consisted of riddim, future bass, and traditional brostep and more, constantly changing the tempo but keeping a steady flow for the audience. He also engaged the audience physically and vocally, which is something other DJ’s and producers struggle to balance. But his connection with the crowd was just enough, keeping everyone involved but also leaving enough time for people to enjoy the music. The final opener was Liquid Stranger, someone no one expected to see on the Paradox Tour. But I have to say, I don’t think anyone was disappointed. The downtempo approach of his set surprised everyone, delivering deep basslines and unique mixes that provided all kinds of psychedelic and heavy vibes. He also addressed the crowd, sort of comically, describing how he had structured his set to change throughout his 45 minutes on stage. With each song played the tone got harder, ramping up the energy once again in preparation for the main performance. He also brought out Dion Timmer at the end of his set to preview a new single they had been working on together while on tour, which combined both of their styles in a very interesting way.
Finally, the time had come for Excision. The openers had only a small stage with few lights and screens to display visuals or their handle, but Excision was very different. The Paradox Stage is a massive LED screen, equipped with an ungodly number of lasers and smoke machines. And if this is not enough to get your attention, the stage is also outfitted with pk Sound. pk Sound, for this stage, ended up outputting an earth-shattering sum of 150,000 watts of bass. At previous shows, this speaker system had drywall falling from the ceilings and buildings blocks away feeling the vibrations. The stage alone is a spectacle, however, Excision’s performance made it even more incredible.Excision’s style consisted of brostep, hardstyle trap, riddim, and even some bass house. The hype of his performance never died, keeping his audience headbanging the entire time. Each song had a different visual, each synced up with the music to create a very immersive experience. Songs like Sullivan King’s remix of “With You” had brand new visuals, never before seen on the Paradox Tour. On the other hand, classics like “Robo Kitty” had the same visuals seen on tour before, with added laser lights and smoke from the recently improved stage. The set had so many absolute bangers, including many ID’s that all Excision fans are anxiously waiting a release date. All in all, the Paradox is a force to be reckoned with and should be on every bass-head’s concert bucket list.
