Skrillex Encourages Positivity in 2015 with Inspiring End of Year Speech

Solaris music festival in Toronto was held this year over New Years weekend and featured big name artists like Skrillex, Adventure Club, Kaskade and more. After day one the event was subject to negative press that numerous brawls had broken out in the crowd on the first night of the event. However, Skrillex wanted to take some time to address the crowd on the second day of the festival and remind everyone why they were all there and what the dance music scene is all about; delivering an inspirational speech that can apply to every single one of us going in to 2015.

Watch Skrillex’s speech below, and/ or read the full transcribed version under the video.

“You are all beautiful! Give a round of applause for yourselves, all of you. You too! I feel your energy. I can see an ocean of faces, all sweaty, all crazy. Now we are going into the New Year! This is crazy, the last few years. In electronic music, in North America, Canada, everywhere over this area – it’s crazy. Because all this, you guys out here, doing this for years! Going, listening – this is our generation right now! And looking at the audience I see so many different types of people. I see black kids, white kids, Chinese kids, Asian kids, Russian kids, Puerto Rican kids, Mexican kids. All you guys are here, right now. That’s amazing, man! There is some special shit going on in our generation right now. Let’s not take that for granted. We need, into the New Year… let’s go in together. Let’s take this positivity over into 2015, because we need more positive shit on this planet. I feel like this is what it’s about, man. We have 6,000 people here. No one is fighting and everyone is having a good time. I’m so impressed on this stage looking at you – I really am. I really appreciate your energy. So in 2015, let’s carry over this positivity. Let’s spread it and make it bigger, better, more soulful and more real than it ever has been before. But it’s not just up to me – it’s up to you guys! Really, I’m just one person. It’s all about all of you people. It’s amazing energy in this room. This music is for everybody: it’s for the outcasts, it’s for the cool people, it’s for the fat kids, it’s for the skinny kids, it’s for the gay kids, the straight kids, the aliens! The yellow people, purple people, black people, white people. No matter who you are, this is for you. If you see someone at your school or at your work and they look left out, all you gotta do – our New Years resolution – is hand a hand out. In 2015 say “Hey, it’s alright. I know how it is.” Make some noise for love in 2015!”

If you think about it, we are all united in the dance music scene and culture. Whether its the newcomers that stumbled into EDM through Calvin Harris and Avicii, or the die hard listeners that dig through Soundcloud on a daily basis; the dance music scene is all united in one way or another through the culture and respect that every area, genre, and listener brings to the table. Believe me, if the top of the EDM bubble pops, there’s going to be debris that falls down onto all of the smaller underground cultures below it as well.

It’s solely up to us to make sure that when we go to shows that not only we are having a good time, but the people around us are doing the same (and we are helping others around us when they aren’t). I’m not about that PLUR life, but I am about respecting others, whether its hard working artists, bloggers, or fans that enjoy dance music. With all the negativity within the scene from hateful soundcloud and youtube comments towards artists, or elitism in the scene, this can sometimes be forgotten; but maybe if we all take one step back and remember why we first started getting into dance music in the first place (because it makes us happy and we enjoy it) we can kick off 2015 on a high note.

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