SF Zedd Telos Tour
Hello everyone I have just came back from the Zedd Telos Tour, my first rave ever and my first concert in like a long time. My friend is a huge Zedd glazer and so the story goes that there was an instagram ad for the updated thursday date and i sent it to my friend and he literally like bought two tickets after exchanging texts for like 2 minutes lmao ig he really wanted to go.
But anyway, this was quite an experience. I had a huge Zedd era about like in 2021 and it's been on and off since. With the release of his new album Telos which I gave a 9/10 on my August new EDM post, Zedd has reached a new height for me. After attending this concert of just pure Zedd tracks, throwbacks, remixes, and flips, Zedd has such a signature sound that's just so uniquely Zedd. Characterized by punchy digital runs and flashy synth pads and overall just a sound design that leans rather traditional but effective. There's also a great amount of drum fills, pauses, and pacing in Zedd drops, along with those classic synth stack leads. Once we go further down the rabbit hole, it's worth mentioning pitch-bending buildups (done with love, i want you to know, spectrum, + a lot more) small minor runs (make you say, middle), or just pure electronic heavy digitalized samples breaks that really leans into this electronic side (eg. = beauty and the beat, spectrum, addicted to a memory). Zedd really took on the pop scene and for me was the radio, bringing a huge force of electronic-driven pop with some really nicely designed vocals and progressions that just builds into classic Zedd drops. You don't hear must EDM like this nowadays structurally, all the melodic bass is slower-paced, less rhythmic, more drawn out, and they have the most predictable fakeouts on the 2nd drop. Zedd's 2nd drop execution is quite effective. Anyway though, hearing "I Want You to Know" and "Break Free" and especially "Stay the Night" was really really euphoric because of just how nostalgic and care-free these tracks are. Just some of the catchiest vocals out there with drops that live up to their hype, classic Zedd drops. There were quite a lot of older white people up on the balcony who prob grew up listening to Zedd's radio hits and thought to pop in which was really cool to see.
Before I get more into the set list, let's briefly talk about the opener. Once Ellis took the stage at like 8 PM for the first opener we went to the pit and never went back. I tried looking for openers for this date and I couldn't find any so I wasn't sure who was opening or if there was any opener at all. I was REALLY glad to see Ellis though because I LOVE ELLIS some of his remixes are actually fire especially the "I don't know why" remix holy cow I remember spamming that track so much. Ellis has a ton of banger and it's just always cool to see monstercat representation on the mainstream. He played his remix of Haywyre's "Tell Me" which I instantly recognized, along with "Clear My Head" which IS A BANGER, but he also remixed some other tracks or has some tracks that have some really solid buildups but it just leads into big room and he had like 6 or 7 big room drops which was pretty disappointing like it just didn't really hit and it's too bare, and all big room drops sound the same they dont even have any supporting themes. Anyway it was still cool to see Ellis, I also saw someone wearing an Elephante jersey which was really cool so I told him that I listen to Elephante too and it was cool and I asked him if he listened to Sabai and he said he just saw him at Santa Cruz last week. Sabai literally did go to Santa Cruz last week and it would be cool to go but i went home anyway.
After Ellis finished, quickly after a white guy took the stage who we thought was Zedd but we look closer and this guy does not look like Zedd at all he looks like younger with long hair and it turns out to be Mesto lmao so WE HAVE A 2ND OPENER and this guy takes even longer to finish his set than Ellis it felt like a long time waiting for this guy to finish. He played a lot of remixes of mainstream tracks including a bass house "FEIN!" which was pretty cool but I still prefer the original. I don't know much about Mesto besides his collaboration on the BANGER of a track "Descensus" from Telos which may be my favorite Zedd track like ever idk I haven't fully thought about that question yet.
And then FINALLY Zedd took the stage and I remember just the opening sounds was just pure bliss it was just Zedd noises and it was just so much aura like it really made me realize like wow Zedd is here he has arrived like wow. I think it was a radiohead remix but like what an opener its literally just pure Zedd sounds and bites thats the only way I can describe it. Then the rest were just EDM rave moments lol like wow some of these drops were FILTHY on these flips he really mixed in some pretty heavy electro-house which was great as it leveled up the intensity. There were also some more nostalgic and raw moments with the tracks I mentioned earlier of his True Color hits or Clarity hits. It's worth mentioning that it was noticeable he would finish every track like a lot of extended versions finish with just blasting the beat and instrumentals itself, with just snappy snares and kicks and heavy bass that really finishes with the backbone of the music and also simultaneously transitioning to a new BPM to transition to a new track. I will say that it was probably these moments that really damaged my hearing like right now writing this and the car ride back like everything I was hearing was just super hazy i couldnt hear my friend if he was talking quiet. It wasn't necessarily like my ears ringing but man they are like super fuzzy right now wow that music was so loud it was really loud.
And yeah I can talk more about some tracks and picks, I'll try to mention the highlights. First of all, Zedd played Virtual Riot's scorched earth to transition from "Lost At Sea" to "Stay the Night" WHICH WAS SICK BECAUSE ITS LIKE IM LISTENING TO VIRTUAL RIOT??? ZEDD REALLY PLAYING VIRTUAL RIOT. I feel like I was the only one who knew how special this techno was, no one else in the concert hall knew this was virtual riot :(
Zedd also had a section on live drums where he played through "Sona", "Lucky", and "Out of Time", I really liked the drum solo'ing in the beginning and his instrumentation on "Sona" it was so musical and he really did kill it. I didn't know he could handle it on the drums like that like his sense of time and his grooves and fills were all really high-class and professional. Really appreciated this section. You know there's only so much you can only do with DJ'ing and visuals and loud music, none of that quite hits like live music. Even if it's not live vocals or guitar, I'll appreciate the drums. He also threw his sticks to the crowd at the end and I wish it was me :( like taht would've been insane but I was too far back anyway.
Also, "one more night" was a standout when I reflect on this concert, just the lights and everything and the way Zedd flipped it I really liked his remix and his take, it really felt like Daft Punk was alive again and it's jsut great feel-good music to hear at this type of venue.
Descensus and Shanti, my top 2 tracks from Telos WAS ABSOLUTELY NUTS especially Shanti like holy cow I was tweaking out during that track it hit so hard I was like singing like crazy I rewatched my videos recording it and I was like singing like crazy lmao man I'll definitely remember that. Those two tracks really hit so hard.
And then Clarity to finish it off, which was amazing with the lights and lasers and confetti finish and just pure music, pure "heys", pure melodies, and pure euphoria on the builds and drops. Perfect track to finish the concert, there's a reason why he's been finishing with Clarity for like 10+ years lmao I wonder how many times hes played Clarity live.
And yeah that concludes my review and reflections on quite the amazing experience at the Zedd Telos Tour. Amazing experience that really had me thinking also about like reviewing EDM as like some tracks really hit different at a festival, I was particularly imagining the ISOKNOCK album, those tracks would go absolutely maniac at a live setting I don't even want to imagine like holy cow it's one thing to like envision it but being at Zedd and seeing the setting really puts things into perspective. Anyway, Telos was also just Zedd's best work to date and I'm also super intrigued to follow his future releases, it may be slow but I'm willing to be patient. I'm super super super interested to see what his next album will sound like because with Telos it really does set a precedent that Zedd doesnt streamchase or appeal to anyone, like this album WAS NOT A FLOP in any sense this was some of the raw-est EDM, production, instrumentation, and cohesiveness ever. But yeah really fun on a Thursday night, it's like 3:40 AM right now lmao but I don't have class tomorrow so I'm chilling. I'm pretty lucky for that because my friend has like a class at like 9 AM lmao. Also, I forgot to mention when we drove back we stopped by Beep's Burgers in Daly City and THAT FOOD WAS SO GOOD I was initially mad cuz it was like 20 dollars for a burger and garlic fries BUT NAH ITS KINDA WORTH IT BECAUSE THAT GARLIC FRIES was like perfect and the burger was super good, better than in and out burger, better than five guys burger, better than like any burger tbh it was really solid. It was just the garlic fries that blew me away, like the texture of the fries was so crazy good and the garlic seasoning was so garlic-y it was so perfect. I'm so dehydrated from that meal and the concert I drank like a total of 32 * 3 = 96 oz of water after the concert lmao kinda crazy.
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