The first BBC DJ to broadcast from Ibiza has relocated to Los Angeles and is now playing live from the west coast, a sign of a shift in dance music’s centre of gravity
Last Friday, about 100 members of the Los Angeles dance music community congregated in the early afternoon on a rooftop in West Hollywood. Sunglasses protected them from a cloud-shrouded sun as they fortified themselves with bottles of Negroni and glasses of white wine. DJ Paul Oakenfold mingled amiably in a tight long-sleeve T-shirt with Hollywhat across his chest. They were all gathered for a live three-hour broadcast of Pete Tong’s weekly show on BBC Radio 1. With a few minutes until airtime, Tong took the stage to officially welcome the crowd and ask that they please turn off their cellphones so they wouldn’t disrupt the signal. As if.
For more than 25 years Tong has been a crucial part of dance music’s global growth through his work as a DJ, radio host, recording artist, label worker and tastemaker. Once dance music became culturally absorbed, as well as thoroughly monetised, in his native UK, he was ready for a change. In 2013, Tong relocated to Los Angeles, arguably the centre of the United States’ still expanding marketplace for EDM.
Continue reading...by Eric Ducker in Los Angeles via Electronic music | The Guardian
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