EDM DJ Nicholas Miller, better known as Illenium and the rising artist behind songs such as “Good Things Fall Apart” and “Fractures,” brought heavy bass, lasers, and, most importantly, pyrotechnics to the Bryce Jordan Center Thursday night as part of his “Ascend” tour. The show also featured openers William Black, Dabin, and Ekali.
Illenium’s tour is based off of his most recent album, ASCEND, which was released in August. The album features popular tracks such as “Takeaway,” with which he collaborated with The Chainsmokers and Lennon Stella, and “In Your Arms” featuring the popular rock band X Ambassadors.
The first opener, William Black, warmed the crowd up with one of his hits, “Letting Go.”To end his performance, Black played his remix of Flux Pavillion’s song, “Emotional.”Dabin took the stage next, performing his hit “First Time,” for which he collaborated with fellow EDM musicians Seven Lions & SLANDER.Dabin broke out his guitar and played along to his songs on multiple occasions.Ekali took the stage next as the last opening act for the concert, constantly hyping the crowd up with his use of the microphone.Ekali, best known for his tracks “Blame” and “Leaving,” released a new song titled “Be Fine” just one week before performing at the Bryce Jordan Center.Illenium took the stage about two and a half hours after the show had begun and did not disappoint whatsoever, starting out with a set on the guitar.However, it wasn’t long before he ditched the guitar and headed to his mixers and soundboards.Singer Annika Wells joined Illenium early on to sing “Crawl Outta Love,” off of Illenium’s 2017 album, Awake.The show brought it all when it came to pyrotechnics, using smoke, flamethrowers, lasers, and confetti.…and more lasers!
Michael graduated with a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering in May 2022. He served as a photographer, social media editor, and visual editor over the course of seven semesters. If you want to know what he's up to these days, shoot him an email at michaelt9300@gmail.com or take a look at @michaelt._ on Instagram.
A mousepad with a cheesy marketing campaign was the first puzzle piece of Michael Tauriello’s quest to understand the ultimate industrial engineering optimization problem: Life itself.