In the span of a few years, Alison Wonderland has become one of EDM’s most sought after performers. Her second album Awake was a perfect blend of ‘bangers’, collabs, and even a bit of pop to make it accessible to almost any listener. She’s clocked in collaborations with some incredible artists along the way like Wayne Coyne (Of the Flaming Lips), Breakout hip hop act Trippie Redd – so when she announced her newest collaboration to the reaction that she did – it was no doubt that it was someone of a huge caliber. In a quick tease in a video from music festival, Dillon Francis and Alison Wonderland announced their collaboration was in the works – and with a huge song like this what’s the best way to celebrate? A tour of course.
The two kicked off the tour January 31 in Madison, WI and are taking it across 15 cities in the U.S. The tour consists of two full-length sets from AW and Dillon Francis with the duo taking turns closing out each night. We had the chance to go to the Chicago date at Navy Pier on February 2nd.
Due to venue logistics and Navy Pier’s early closing time, Alison Wonderland had to take the stage a bit earlier than most would expect with her set starting promptly after Diablo’s at 8 pm. She announced it on twitter – but even with the announcement her set started off to a half empty ballroom – but it did not take long for it to fill up with AW’s loyal fanbase.
If you had the chance to experience AW’s initial Awake tour – you know she likes to bring more to her performances than just CDJ’s. Her cello was indeed in attendance – bringing another level of artistry. She continues to contribute live vocals to a lot of her songs, and even performs a live mashup with Virtual Self’s “Ghost Voices” with her song “Easy.” As “Ghost Voices” plays, she sings the vocals from “Easy” live for a truly incredible experience. If it’s something AW excels in is playing out as many genres as possible, along with some incredible remixes of songs her loyal fanbase already knows. She included a nice little medley of house songs which included Disclosure’s “A Fire Start to Burn” and Fisher’s “Losing it.” The highlight of the night for me was the crowd reacion upon hearing the second drop of “Church” when she unleashed the Party Pupils remix.
Dillon Francis closed the night – and he didn’t hold anything back. He played through his huge catalog of songs from his Moombahton heaters that first blew him onto the scene to a collection of songs from his new spanish language album. Dillon Francis performances haven’t skipped a beat. If people weren’t dancing their asses off on the dance flloor – they were cackling at Dillon’s hilarious visuals synced up perfectly with his tracks.
Who knew Alison Wonderland and Dillon Francis would make a perfect match.
In the span of a few years, Alison Wonderland has become one of EDM’s most sought after performers. Her second album Awake was a perfect blend of ‘bangers’, collabs, and even a bit of pop to make it accessible to almost any listener. She’s clocked in collaborations with some incredible artists along the way like Wayne Coyne (Of the Flaming Lips), Breakout hip hop act Trippie Redd – so when she announced her newest collaboration to the reaction that she did – it was no doubt that it was someone of a huge caliber. In a quick tease in a video from music festival, Dillon Francis and Alison Wonderland announced their collaboration was in the works – and with a huge song like this what’s the best way to celebrate? A tour of course.
