Datsik and Steve Aoki give crowd ‘Deadmeat’ and other food at Fillmore.

Fillmore attendees get wet, dirty and entertained. Photo/Steve Aoki

Pure filth. That’s what I experienced along with the rest of the crowd on Friday at the Fillmore for Steve Aoki and Datsik’s Deadmeat Tour.

And I don’t mean that as a bad thing, either.

When I first arrived at the venue, the diversity of the people in line varied from freaks to super freaks. I missed Alvin Risk, the opening act, but I was soon made aware that I missed a great set.

Datsik went on around 9:30 p.m. and he opened the show with crowd favorite, “YES,” which he produced along with Bassnectar. He immediately got the entire venue pumped and raging.

Song after song, he aimed to please and that he did. With visual effects behind him and random explosions of confetti coming from top, everyone was zoned in to their own world and at times I’d forget there were mobs of people all around me.

The bass he brings is crunchy and perfectly timed. Any audience member can see his main goal is to make sure everyone has a good time. He was constantly asking the audience if we were enjoying the show and satisfaction came in the form of the roaring and cheering coming back at him.

Another awesome thing about Datsik is the way he doesn’t forget his friends. He constantly shouted out the people who helped him get started by saying things like, “You guys like my friend Excision? Make sure to check him out!”

After his last song ended, the crowd went crazy and started chanting “Datsik! Datsik!” and he stood there in awe for a couple of seconds and took it all in.

After about a 10-15 minute break, the event staff had set up Steve Aoki’s stage and he was ready to get wild. In the week leading up to the show, people that attended in the cities before Charlotte were tweeting about how outrageous Aoki was and how he would throw food and drinks into the crowd so I had gone in with high expectations.

Here is the scene as soon as Aoki got on: imagine a food fight with hundreds of people squished together in one room with house music playing in the background and people crowd surfing on top of inflatable mattresses.

Random objects sent flying into the crowd included two salad trays, two chocolate cakes, a bottle of orange juice and about five bottles of champagne.

Aoki is very interactive with his audience, which I found out firsthand. I somehow pushed and pulled my way to the front row during Datsik so I was front and center while Aoki was on.

At one point during his set, he scanned the front row and stopped at me. He unscrewed the top of the orange juice. If he was aiming for my mouth, he did an awful job.

As the set progressed, Aoki began playing more dupstep than house music and the light show had everyone in a trance. Between Datsik and Steve Aoki, the night was full of raunchy bass and fun-loving electro house music.

One would be hard pressed to find anyone in the crowd who left feeling anything less than ecstatic.

Alex Dyer, a sophomore at UNC Charlotte, said at the end of the night, “That was the best show I’ve ever been to. Everything was perfect. The venue, the artists, the music- it was all ideal.”

It was truly a great show. Both artists have grown as performers since the last time I saw them this past summer at Identity Music Festival. I will countdown the days until they return to the Queen City.