Despite the approaching horror of finals week, accompanied by the advent of another daunting Wisconsin winter, we Badgers always seem to be on the lookout for an escape from our day-to-day grind.
On my way home from class today, I longed for the days when I could walk across campus without losing all feeling in my hands and feet. I felt nostalgic for one of the first warm Saturdays of last semester, the last one before spring finals, when I spent the day in a state of sunshine-induced bliss at the second Revelry Music & Arts Festival at Memorial Union. Revelry lived up to its name—as the sun set, a massive crowd drifted over from the coinciding (and technically unofficial) Mifflin Street block party. The headliner, a young DJ and producer named Dillon Francis, helped a crowd of thousands forget about the week of exams on the horizon amid an atmosphere of positive energy and ceaseless dancing.
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, Francis will make his return to Madison at the Majestic Theatre. We may be missing the sunshine and 70-degree weather this time around, but Francis will be returning with more energy and momentum than ever before. He has grown immensely as an artist and an entertainer since his last Madison visit, and he’s ready to bring the heat back with a show that is sure to make us all forget about the weeks of studying and snowfall that are ahead.
For years, Francis has been gaining traction within the dance music scene. Some of his popular singles, including “I.D.G.A.F.O.S.” and “Get Low,” appealed to fans of fist-pumping, bass-howling party music. Meanwhile, collaborations like “Without You ft. T.E.E.D.” showcased Francis’ talent as a producer and potential as a songwriter, demonstrating that when it comes to the catchy hooks and thumping bass lines that characterize big-room dance music, he could take it or leave it. It just so happens that he usually prefers to take it.
Francis makes his way to Madison on the Money Sucks, Friends Rule tour, supporting his new album of the same name. Francis released Money Sucks, Friends Rule, his first full-length album, in October after making his rounds on an impressive handful of major summer festivals. The album’s playfully blunt title and the lyrical nonsense of “Not Butter” may leave some of you wondering whether Francis should be taken seriously. That doesn’t seem to be of high importance to Francis, whose silly, tongue-in-cheek personality is vital to the charming charisma that defines him as a performer and helped us to fall in love with him in the first place. In any case, Francis lets the music speak for itself.
Money Sucks, Friends Rule is a perfect cross-section of a style of electronic music that has grown exponentially in popularity over the last couple of years. Francis may share the big-room style with a myriad of producers that came before him, but with this album he secures his place at the top of the scene. There’s a wide range of qualities in music that make us want to dance around. Thumping bass, club beats, powerful vocal samples, hip-hop verses, melodic hooks—the list goes on. On the album, Francis touches on every one of these EDM tropes and proves that he can do each one with more power, better production and more heart than just about anyone in the scene.
And Money Sucks, Friends Rule is stacked with collaborations by some of the biggest names in the genre as well as outside of it, such as Twista, DJ Snake, Martin Garrix, Major Lazer and more, including Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco.
This year, Dillon Francis has gone from a small-time DJ to one of the biggest names in electronic music, and his live show is bigger, better and louder than ever. With a debut album that captures everything that makes dance music fun and puts it cohesively in one place while remaining light at heart, Francis effectively reminds us not to overthink things. There is a time and place for music with the sole purpose of having fun and that time and place is Tuesday, at the Majestic.
In case a worldwide catastrophe someday causes all dance music to go extinct and the human race to forget how to dance, I think we need to track down the nearest time capsule, dig it up and throw a copy of Money Sucks, Friends Rule in that sucker.
