FUSE TV - Skrillex Grabs a Guitar for Bonnaroo 2014 Super Jam

The guy that Skrillex fans recognize as their favorite super producer and EDM icon is the one with the giant black spectacles, the perpetual fist in the air and the spaceship, that ridiculous structure onstage where he resides and drops the beat from at his electronic extravaganzas. The man who conducted a veritable orchestra of rock, rap, reggae and indie legends and (legends in the making) last night at Bonnaroo was the same Skrillex, but he didn't stick to the space ship. Or the laptop. Or the telltale wub wub wub wub-es of the genre he's helped define. Skrillex spent the majority of his Bonnaroo super jam bouncing back and forth between his trusty laptop and a guitar, and the shift between tools of the trade wasn't the only surprise that unfurled before the crowd over the course of the following three hours.

At Bonnaroo, Skrillex, more or less, became the conductor of the orchestra of modern music. The super jam isn't a new thing for Bonnaroo—Jim James led a particularly epic one last year that involved R. Kelly belting out Sam Cooke songs into the wee hours of the morning—but it is the first jam with an EDM bent. Huge talent from the Bonnaroo lineup (Janelle Monaé, comedian Craig Robinson, ASAP Ferg, Warpaint, Cage the Elephant) were tapped for the super jam, with surprises delivered via cameos from Mystikal and Ms. Lauryn Hill. 

After blasting a handful of sing-along favorites (Toto's "Africa," Naughty By Nature's "Hip Hop Hooray") Skrillex quit with the armchair covers and picked up a guitar to turn the festival's biggest dance party into one with live instead of canned entertainment. The band Skrillex assembled to back the variety of guests was exceptional, and it was especially fantastic to see the DJ and producer ditch his typical set-up to grab a guitar, jump on top of his console and rip into some chords for a change. Nobody went into this thinking they'd hear "Shake Ya Ass" or a perfect "Pump Up The Jam" cover via Warpaint, so cheers to Skrillex for embracing a love for Jock Jams 2 and the forgotten hits of middle school dances of the '90s! (Seriously. Nothing but love for Jock Jams.)