Despite their recent controversies, The Brooklyn Mirage is still one of my favorite venues for electronic music in NYC. Not only do they bring the best talent, but their wrap-around LED screen walls and lightshows are unrivaled. When ZHU announced he was bringing his live show to this iconic venue, I knew I had to be there.
Although ZHU’s Mirage tenure lasted 3 nights, I went to the Friday night show which had been sold out since June. When I arrived, Noizu was kicking things off as the opener, and rocked the house with disco and piano house tunes. The atmosphere was electric and I could just feel the excitement for ZHU building, which reached a fever pitch by the time he came on the stage to the tune of his most recent single, “Take My Soul” with Devault.
For close to 3 hours, ZHU captivated the sold-out audience with a perfectly curated setlist. He seamlessly alternated between heavier bass tracks like his collaboration with NERO, “Dreams,” and dance-forward house tunes like “Automatic.” We even caught snippets of his Blacklizt work, which is techno side-product. There were plenty of fresh IDs, which will hopefully be on his upcoming album, GRACE, arriving in January.
ZHU also brought out a full band for VIP versions of his songs, including a drummer, guitarist, and saxophonist to add live instrumentation to songs like “Working For It.” To the delight of the crowd, he also brought out Trombone Shorty for a solo. While I’ve been to many Mirage shows this year, the crowd here was one of my favorites – something about ZHU’s music unites everyone in dance, from headbanging to “I’ll Admit It” to boogying to “Came For The Low.”
We asked ZHU about his stay at the iconic Brooklyn venue, and here’s what he exclusively told TSIS:
It was great to bring the GRACE show to Brooklyn, a place where my first club show began, behind the curtain, anonymous… to now 3 nights at Mirage. What a journey.
This NYC residency just marked the beginning of his Fall 2023 Grace tour. We highly recommend catching one of his other shows.