Lilly Palmer DJs In Las Vegas To Rave Reviews

One never knows what is coming when invited to a post-midnight rave in the warehouse district of Las Vegas. Recently that’s where I saw Lilly Palmer for the very first time. She was in Las Vegas prior to being on her way to play before 100,000 people at the Penn State versus Washington College football game. Lilly played the Penn walkout as their team came onto the field.

I was immediately curious as there is a massive difference between a roaring student based stadium crowd at a classic late fall match up and a gig inside of warehouse. The skill set to handle those two separate performances is amazing. One night before a tiny crowd and another performance essentially for a city hopped up on beer and crammed into the single space of a football stadium.

I had a great conversation with Lilly Palmer. The DJ life is one of continuous travel and hopefully upward progression. Lilly entered this world giving herself three years to make her name. She’s more than accomplished that. Lilly spends her summers playing the festival circuit in Europe and the rest of the year touring globally. She takes off a couple of weeks here and there and a moment for resetting at the beginning of each new calendar year. Lilly has an aggressive performance style in which her set is predominately playing at 150 beats per minute. 150 beats commands attention. You feel it. Lilly does mix in some classic songs here and again which kicks the crowd energy up to another level. Then she brings it back into her signature techno space.

Lilly is more extroverted in performance then many other DJ’s. She’s dancing, she’s mouthing lyrics, or outright vocalizing and she’s mixing on the fly as she reads the crowd. Her music is loud and the beat is aggressive. The people who come to see her are ready to go. This is a party. It is not a wellness seminar.

What’s really ingratiating about Lilly is how much effort she makes to bring the crowd along with her as she progresses through her set. She is interactive and that keys the crowd to be a bit more communal rather than in their individual spaces. I see Lilly as being happy, upbeat and engaging in performance. Having had the opportunity to speak with her, I see the same when talking with her one-on-one outside of a club setting.

My observation is that crowds really perk up when the DJ drops something familiar. Lilly is incredibly astute in choosing the right time to kick the crowd up with the jolt of the familiar and then back into the theme of the night.

Lilly sees herself as someone who could eventually move into working with other artists once she has traveled the world enough times and wants to do something other than traveling from hotel to airport to venue to hotel to airport to venue. She considers herself a real raver which is important in this space. It’s easy to understand the audience if you’re part of the same community. At home though, she looks for something quieter and a more peaceful musical choice – something easy and chill, calming or even deep house.

It’s quite the job to walk into a cold room and assert command. Your job is to gather the attention of the room, bring them up and get them engaged with the music being played. Lilly’s combination of vocalizing and dancing while performing helps meld the crowd into a single unit. She’s behind the boardd moving and setting the baseline for all the others in the room to follow.

The job of a DJ is grueling. Travelling continuously requires the flexibility to adjust as schedules go awry or weather affects how you can move. The positive side is that as Lilly notes you get to see the whole world. The performer has to be their best every night because the audience is only there once. That is show business. When the act has both the command of the room and the capacity to build an attractive set there’s only one way this can go and that’s bigger. Keep your eyes open for when Lilly Palmer comes to your town. You’ll be dancing in minutes and singing along shortly thereafter. Whether you like it or not you’re going to be dancing. You might as well surrender. There is no reason to resist the inevitable.