Nightlife

Dubstep champ Excision brings his headbanging Apex Tour to town

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Excision hits Cox Pavilion on January 19.
Courtesy
Jason R. Latham

Every artist needs a fashion gimmick for fans to emulate. Elvis Presley wore the jumpsuits. Jimmy Buffett inspired the Parrotheads. Marshmello would just be some random guy without that helmet. When it comes to Excision, fans embrace the neck brace.

The Canadian dubstep overlord boasts a global following of passionate “headbangers” who eagerly hang on every bass drop, with no regard for the soreness that will surely set in the following day. It’s a badge of honor, really, and one they’ll be proud to wear after Excision kicks off his Apex 2019 Tour at Cox Pavilion on January 19.

The show marks Excision’s return to Las Vegas following last year’s Electric Daisy Carnival, where he’s been a main attraction dating back to the festival’s arrival in 2011. For local fans, it’s a chance to see the artist outside of the EDC grounds, and a rare opportunity to experience everything indoors, as Excision rattles your skull with a bone-crushing 225,000-watt PK Sound system and revolutionary Paradox 3D visuals.

The Paradox, for the uninitiated, is Excision’s music come to life. Bass lines sprout techno-organic limbs that try to scoop you up from the crowd. A face on the DJ booth responds to every beat. Patterns, shapes and Excision’s trademark dinosaur visuals envelop the artist as he works the decks.

“It is easily the coolest production you’re ever going to see,” says Marcel Correa, whose RVLTN Events is bringing Excision back to Las Vegas. “We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment on that stage. It’s just insane.”

RVLTN Events launched in 2013 with the goal of bringing festival-like DJ sets to non-festival venues. After scoring early successes at Downtown’s Beauty Bar and (now defunct) Insert Coin(s), fan demand drove RVLTN to expand into larger venues like The Joint, Brooklyn Bowl and Cowabunga Bay, among others, and a calendar of 60-70 events per year.

“When we first started, we left no stone unturned when it came to marketing,” Correa says. “We were hitting up gym parking lots, colleges, and we could barely get to the finish line. Now, we’re selling out almost everything we do. The culture is blowing up extraordinarily.”

The fanbase isn’t entirely local, either, with RVLTN shows drawing groups from Utah, Arizona and California—a reversal from the days when Las Vegans would be the ones leaving the state to see Excision or another dance artist outside of EDC. “There was once a time where we had to educate people about the artists,” Correa says. “Now we could reach deep and bring a newcomer [to Las Vegas], and everybody already knows about them.”

THE APEX TOUR with Excision, Squnto, Sullivan King, He$h. January 19, 8 p.m., $52. Cox Pavilion, 702-739-3267.

Tags: Nightlife, Music
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