Jack Ü, the amalgam of two of the most essential figures in modern mainstream EDM, Skrillex and Diplo, was given the opportunity of a lifetime when they were tapped at the last minute to play Robot Heart at the 28th annual Burning Man festival in Nevada, a spot originally reserved for Seth Troxler, before he infamously refused to play during his allotted set time. Skrillex manned the set solo for a short while, before Diplo joined him and they performed as their titular performance duo for the rest of the set.
Around September of last year, rumors started pouring in about the duo being booed off of the stage because of Diplo’s decision to drop DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s 2014 mega smash hit Turn Down for What in their set, which many saw as the final nail in the coffin of the commercialization of Robot Heart and Burning Man as a whole. Diplo was quick to refute these “tabloidish” claims, however, saying via TwitLonger, “We weren’t kicked off or booed .. Jus wrapped our set up with an inside joke … And of all the stories to come out after an amazing week… This is pretty tabloidish that’s not what burningman is about.. Everything we did there was good fun and all the people that attended knows it..”
Many still weren’t sure about the legitimacy of the rumors and the several refutes from various sources, however, recently, those on the Opulent Temple Podcast, whom were in attendance of Jack Ü’s set, have come forth and recalled their experiences with the duo’s performance in their two-hour 92nd episode.
The podcast’s description on SoundCloud says the following statement regarding Jack Ü’s Burning Man appearance:
“After 2 years and near misses of talking to Skrillex’s team about playing at OT, we were excited to see it finally happen this year. The fact Diplo was in the mix with him was all the more exciting.
They bought their own tickets, asked for no special treatment and came out, and despite being scheduled back to back to play separately, played a 2+ hour awesome tag set as ‘Jack U’ of infectious excellent eclectic party music. People had an amazing time. They were super friendly, down to earth and totally classy when they were at OT.
Let THAT be the dominant narrative of them coming to play Burning Man. 2 music lovers who shared what they do well with thousands of other happy music lovers.”
Our photographer who attended the Burn last year was also there for Jack Ü’s Robot Heart outing, who had the following to say:
“Actually, I’m happy to see them again at the Burn. I was there during the Turn Down incident, and it was blown way out of proportion. A couple people went ‘aww’ and that was about it. I was amazed by the sheer amount of hours they were on art cars. Saw them do midnight to sunrise one night.”
Check out Jack Ü’s and Justin Bieber’s new 8-minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of their radio smash Where Are Ü Now here.
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