World-famous DJ slates July 11 Idaho Boho show
By Eric Valentine
Make that two electronic dance music (EDM) shows slated for the Valley in July. What’s different about the one set for July 11 is that the world’s most famous EDM talent will be the headliner.
Luke McNees confirmed last Thursday with “Wood River Weekly” that the biggest name in DJing would be coming to the Valley soon. By Friday, McNees secured the date and posted the news to his Lost River Disco (LRD) page on Facebook. And before the weekend was done, the LRD website said the show was sold out. By midday Monday, however, special combo tickets for $285 were on sale that granted access to the July 23 – 25 LRD festival at Idaho Basecamp that McNees had already been promoting as well as the Diplo show taking place at The Boho Lounge in Ketchum on July 11.
“This is the biggest name the Valley has ever had perform here, at least as far as I know,” McNees said.
Who the heck is Diplo?
Depending on how you measure fame and prominence and what constitutes a performance, McNees is probably right. Diplo is arguably the world’s most important EDM talent and has helped put that music genre on the map. Diplo is an American DJ, a songwriter and a record producer whose rise to fame began in 2004 with his critically-acclaimed debut album “Florida.” He has composed with Justin Bieber, Sia, Snoop Dogg, Usher, and many more pop music all-stars. And he has street cred in the world of socio-cultural commentators. One case in point: Diplo has been interviewed by Charlie Rose twice, once on the New York set of Rose’s former talk show and once in Havana, Cuba, when Diplo performed a free show outside the U.S. embassy in 2016—the first major concert by an American act since the two countries had begun easing tensions.
For some Idahoans and performing arts patrons like Ken Stokes, who sits on the board of directors for the Boise Philharmonic and has had longtime family ties to major performances around Sun Valley, the Diplo event is par for the course here.
“This goes back to the 1960s when very big names would perform intimate shows. Go take a look at all those beautiful black and white photos in the hallway at Sun Valley Lodge. If you see Frank Sinatra in one of them I can promise you he was singing in the Duchin,” Stokes noted. “Good god, Marilyn Monroe performed in a movie here in the ’50s. It’s all about how you see the evolution of what is star-hood, what is the (music) industry, and what is the Valley.”
For McNees, the evolution is about making sure Idaho and the Wood River Valley specifically doesn’t remain a sort of “flyover country” for the music industry. To be fair, especially since the emergence of Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho is less flyover and more stop while passing through. It’s better than no visit by the big names at all, but it’s not enough for the youthful and ambitious McNees who has been managing tours for acts like Third Eye Blind and Diplo for years.
“I want to see the Valley get on the map,” McNees said.
What the heck is EDM?
If you want the encyclopedic definition, Britannica describes it like this: “Electronic dance music, also known as EDM, is the umbrella term for a panoply of musical styles that emerged in the mid-1980s. Rather than designating a single genre, electronic dance music (EDM) encompasses styles ranging from beatless ambient music to 200-beats-per-minute hardcore, with house music, techno, drum and bass, dubstep, and trance among the most-notable examples.”
Or, as music purists and classical composers might call it, Stokes said, “Cute.”
While EDM is certainly a shortcut to creating a song since it uses synthesized melodies and rhythms via a computer, it’s far more than just a mashup of existing songs or a plug-and-play video game experience. EDM DJs, at least ones like Diplo, are songwriters. They make real choices about which melody, which rhythm, which instrument happens when, just like any composer. In fact, in traditional music, a composer might be focused on the song at hand when first penning something down. For a DJ, they’re focusing on that, but also the entire show experience: when will the song be played, what will the light show be like, does it need to play longer or shorter depending on the vibe of the room.
Some within the industry even see EDM evolving more, wherein the audience itself will be part of the creative process, interacting with a show in a way where they control some of the music being performed. To put it bluntly, pianos and guitars and cellos—while stunningly beautiful instruments and here to stay for another millennia—are as archaic as a medieval lute.
In the meantime, the re-opening of the Valley is happening right now. And by July, you’re really going to feel the beat of it all.