Zeds Dead's 'First Contact' At The Legendary Hampton Coliseum Was A Massive Success

This past weekend, the iconic Toronto dubstep dons, Zeds Dead, graced the legendary Hampton Coliseum with their first curated Deadbeats event in that venue, and it was one of the best stretches of electronic music I have personally ever experienced.

Calling Hampton Coliseum legendary might even be an understatement, some of the most iconic acts across genres have performed there, ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Phish to Pretty Lights to The Rolling Stones. Even Subtronics and Excision have hosted shows there. It’s one of my personal favorite places to see live music in the US, and when I saw the lineup, I knew I had to make my return to the mothership, the semi-official nickname the coliseum has garnered over the years. Since you’ll always leave that arena feeling like you are no longer on planet Earth, it’s a pretty spot-on name for the venue.

First Contact was the name of the two-night event, and not only was their music from 5:30pm to midnight in the arena, but Deadbeats also brought some of the performing artists to the venue a bit early each night, playing smaller sets for fans who were able to arrive early at the Coliseum’s entrance. Alongside those mini-performances were tons of food trucks and merch, official and from vendors alike.

The lineup included two nights of headlining Zeds Dead performances, but the support they pulled in for First Contact added that much firepower to this already top-notch curated event.

The Openers

Friday night started off hot with the deep dubstep phenomenon Distinct Motive. This talented producer started things off proper, dropping absolute bombs on the crowd as they started filing into the Mothership.

After Distinct Motive, was the raucous back-to-back performance from Sippy and Smoakland. The two dubstep acts just released their collaboration with ProbCause a couple months back, and distributed an even mix of both artist’s discography during their sets. Standout tracks of Sippy’s were her new Monstercat-assisted single “Banana Song” as well as her headbanging classic “Bone Breaker” with Neotek. Smoakland played tracks from their new collaborative Big Gigantic EP, as well as tons of cuts from their 2023 Stay In Your Lane album.

The legendary Rusko came on after that filthy Smoakland and Sippy b2b with a hefty dose of Drum and Bass to get the arena moving and grooving. Rusko always has such a great time playing out his iconic dubstep and DnB anthems to large crowds, and between the huge smile on his face and his fan-favorite dance moves, we all knew for a fact that he was having an absolute blast.

After Rusko, was one of the genre’s founding fathers, even more so than Rusko if you can believe it. Dubstep icon Skream took the stage next, with some MCing assistance from the vibrant Sgt. Pokes on the mic. He dropped huge tracks like “Filth” and his “In For The Kill” remix and had the crowd going bonkers. We went up to the stands for that set, and even though we weren’t as ‘in it,’ watching that crowd go bananas for such a heavyweight artist, in such a special venue, it was really hypnotizing. He even dropped close friend and frequent collaborator Benga‘s tune, “26 Basslines,” one of my all-time personal favorites.

Day two also started with a bang, with up-and-coming producers Floret Loret and Curra starting things off. Each of these two ones-to-watch had the crowd fully engaged, slanging their unique styles of bass music upon the masses of the Hampton Coliseum.

Next up was Cool Customer, the enigmatic producer fresh on the scene who has been making some massive waves over the past couple of years. It was awesome to catch this explosive rising star artist for the first time. He dropped some of my favorite Cool Custy original releases as well as his viral fan-favorite “Inspector Gadget Theme” remix. His performance featured a team up with visual arts guru Steven Haman.

Following Cool Customer was my personal favorite set of the weekend, neuro-hop maestro Jade Cicada. He was an absolute menace on the decks and the pairing of Jade with the visual arts phenomenon DR01D was a match made in heaven. All of the other acts had lights and lasers throughout the weekend, but not Jade. The lights went down for Jade Cicada’s set, bringing all of the audience’s attention the screen where DR01D blew everyone in attendance’s mind. Featuring hypnotic and trippy landscapes that suck you deeper into the performance, this was simply one of the most special sets I’ve ever experienced.

Jade Cicada played tracks from all throughout his discography, dropping tunes from his newest 2023 album Pressure Gamut, his 2017 Brood VII album, selects from his Fish Juice and Byte Evaders EPs, as well as a hefty dose of unreleased firepower. Simply put, the coliseum was in shambles after Jade’s debut Deadbeats performance, and we can’t wait to get the chance to see this production mastermind at work sometime soon.

The Boys

Both nights, Zeds Dead aggressively tore the roof off the place. They provided tons of Zeds Dead classics to their fans from their massive discography, tracks like “Collapse,” “Coffee Break,” “Journey of a Lifetime,” “Undah Yuh Skirt,” “Demons,” their 3LAU “Touch” remix, and dozens more. They also played relatively newer tracks like “Waves,” “Ecstasy Of Soul,” “One Three Nine,” “I Think That You’re Cool,” “Alive,” and “Phuket Sunrise,” as well as bangers from artists like Noisia, ISOxo, Sammy Virji, Moody Good, Tape B, Shlump, Chef Boyarbeatz, Levity, EAZYBAKED and loads more.

Both sets were in the upper echelon of Zeds Dead sets I’ve experienced, and that total number of shows for me is probably somewhere in the twenty-somethings. Zeds Dead and the Deadbeats family continue to level up with every show they put on, and it’s crystal clear after this past weekend. We are hoping and praying that the boys will return for First Contact 2 at the Hampton Coliseum next year!

Next up for Zeds Dead is two nights in Salt Lake City, followed by their yearly Deadrocks performance at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. For that massive Deadbeats weekend in Denver, they’re also throwing their fan-favorite Jamboree. It takes place during the day at Denver’s Civic Center park and features three stages of music, featuring artists like Caspa, Bou, Justin Jay, and more!