On Friday, August 18th, at the Hollywood Palladium, F4L was lucky to catch the final show of Dada Life’s tour “The Compound Evolved”. Although the Swedish DJ due has not released a full EP since their 2012 The Rules of Dada, they put on a spectacular show, playing classics like “So Young So High” and relatively newer songs like “One Last Night On Earth” Staying true to their lyrics “You Will Do What We Will Do,” Dada Life created an immersive experience inside the historical concert hall that almost felt like a cult, but this cult had you drinking champagne instead of Kool-Aid.
If there is one thing to know about Dada Life, it is that they love bananas…and champagne. And they, nor their fans, are shy about it. Almost everyone in the crowd was sporting banana printed clothing, or waving banana foam fingers, or singing the words to Dada Life’s final remixes of Gwen Stefani’s lyrics, “This sh*t is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S.” And if you somehow made it to this point in your life without knowing those lyrics, not a problem; along with some psychedelic visuals, lyrics of almost every song they played were projected on the large screens behind them, so that everyone could join in. In between their hit songs, Dada Life turned the Palladium into a scene that could be confused for a Vegas club. Everyone was packed together jumping and dancing to the DJ’s house music, it was interesting to hear from them.
By the end of the show, when everyone was tired and ready to go home, Dada Life revved up the energy again. They passed out surgical-looking masks with the design of a big smile on it, because everyone is happy in Dada Land, and also passed out over a hundred stuffed pillows as they began playing “Happy Violence”. On the DJs’ count, the crowd began a ginormous pillow fight with the sole goal of releasing pillow fluff all over the venue. It was a rare live music experience.
Opening up for Dada Life were Tokyo Machine, Bad Royale, and Arty, all of whom did a great job warming up the crowd for the party that ensued. Be on the lookout for Dada Life to come to your town!
