Paul Oakenfold Lights Up LIV

Paul Oakenfold has managed to stay relevant throughout a career spanning three decades in an industry with tastes more fickle than a teenage girl’s literary love interest. He got his start spinning soul in the UK, crossed over to the production side and went on to found Perfecto Records. With today’s technology, almost anyone can mix two songs together. Being able to read the crowd and play music that solicits a reaction is where the art of this craft lies and on Saturday I saw Paul Oakenfold bring the house down at LIV.

The beautiful and/or beautifully dressed people began trickling in from the haute lobby of the Fontaine Bleau around one. Considering male tickets sold out at $125 + fees per, I was grateful to have been on the guest list and remembered why LIV continually ranks on the best clubs lists shortly after entering.  I took note of the attention to detail- from the dome roof that looked like the mother ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, replete with an arsenal of disco balls to the array of lasers and hidden subwoofers, it seemed as though this place were put together by Honda. Mind Electric opened, a producer with a staggering list of remixes and mashups to his name. He built the crowd up with some minimal house before progressing to a harder electro sound, priming the pump for Paul.

Oakenfold took the stage at one thirty, starting with the classic “Turn Me Out” from Kathy Brown and mixed in Axwell’s version of Adrian Lux’s “Teenage Crime”, signaling that tonight’s set would blend bangers for the younger scenesters with recognizable top forty favorites for the forty-somethings.  Playing a set that caters to a diverse crowd is a tough balancing act, but one Oakenfold did extremely well. He dropped Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” and brought in the  wacky “Ah Yeah” followed by Alesso’s take on One Republic’s “If I Lose Myself”. He peppered in some original productions with PPK’s “ResuRection” that went into his remix of Poncho’s “Please me”. Paul was all over the place from a genre and time period standpoint, but his decades behind the decks allowed for a set that had a natural flow.

After raging to jams like Moguai’s electrohouse “Optinuum” for the past hour and a half, the crowd seemed to lose steam around three, but he brought them right back in with one of the most recognizable guitar riffs in music history and everyone chanted along to “Seven Nation Army”. With the energy level brought back up, he smashed Axwell’s anthem “In My Mind” with Martin Garrix’s banger “Animals” and right as the set was reaching critical mass, Paul dropped his remix of Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out Of Heaven”. The crazy combinations continued as U2’s “With Or Without You” faded into the RHCP’s “Otherside” and he managed to keep the Miami masses partying for hours on end.

Paul played well past four, which I found impressive given most people his age (and mine for that matter) were already long asleep. Then I remembered I merely adopted the nightlife- Oakenfold was born in it. That much was apparent by his masterful way of manipulating the crowd. He knew what to play and when to play it to generate the best response and kept the energy flowing. Paul Oakenfold is on tour now and if he’s coming to your city or festival stage, this is one veteran you won’t want to miss. Tour Dates.

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