LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019E3
POP & HISS
latimes.com/pophiss
SATURDAY
Fat Beats 25th anniversary
feat. Dilated Peoples,
Cut Chemist, J Rocc, more
The Regent, 448 S. Main St.
$40, 7 p.m.FRIDAY
Better Oblivion
Community Center
The Wiltern,
3790 Wilshire Blvd.
$30-$112, 7 p.m.THURSDAY
Los Lobos, Los Lonely
Boys, Ozomatli
Greek Theatre,
2700 N. Vermont Ave.
$39-$79.50, 7:30 p.m.SUNDAY
The Pan Afrikan
Peoples Arkestra
Zebulon,
2478 Fletcher Drive
$15, 8 p.m.MONDAY
Orville Peck
Amoeba Music-Hollywood,
6400 Sunset Blvd.
free, 5 p.m.5 NIGHTS
OUT
A curated calendar of live
music not to be missedMagic City L.A.
Miami-bred, N.Y.C.-based DJ
and producer Jubilee brings her
iconic dance party to the West
Coast for its long-awaited L.A.
debut. The evening features a
hand-picked lineup of some of the
world’s finest purveyors of 808-
based music, including Anna Mor-
gan, Gangsta Boo, Om Unit, Salva
and, of course, Jubilee herself.
Tickets cost $15. 1720 E. 16th
Street, 10 p.m. Thursday.
Tchaikovsky Spectacular
L.A.’s beloved annual celebra-
tion of the Russian romantic com-
poser celebrates its 50-year mile-
stone with a two-night run at the
Hollywood Bowl this weekend. The
droll Bramwell Tovey helms the
night, leading the L.A. Phil and the
USC Trojan Marching Band
through four of Tchaikovsky’s
greatest works. As always, the
evening will culminate with a
performance of the “1812 Overture”
accompanied by a barrage of
fireworks.
Tickets start at $19. Hollywood
Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturday.Carly Rae Jepsen
Beloved pop queen Carly Rae
Jepsen returns with a much-antic-
ipated pair of shows behind her
current “Dedicated” tour. Her
acclaimed fourth album of the
same name is loaded with lush,
well-crafted songwriting that sees
the singer ascend from entertainer
to a pop auteur in her own right.
Expect Jepsen’s live show to in-
clude recent singles such as “Too
Much” as well as her career-mak-
ing “Call Me Maybe.” To sweeten
the deal, $1 from every ticket sold
will go to benefit Crisis Text Line,
which works to provide free, confi-
dential support for those in crisis.
Tickets start at $40. The
Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., 7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday.Real Street Festival
Head to Anaheim this weekendfor the debut of Real 92.3’s new
hip-hop and lifestyle event, billed
as the largest music event to ever
come to Orange County. The
two-day affair takes over the
Honda Center Grounds for a
celebration of music, street art
and culture, with a knockout
lineup of locals and heavy hitters
that includes Cardi B, Future,
Migos, ASAP Rocky, Miguel,
Meek Mill, Blueface, YBN Cordae,
Megan Thee Stallion andmany more.
Single-day tickets cost $99,
with two-day passes starting at
$169. Honda Center Grounds, 2695
E. Katella Ave., 12 p.m. Saturday
and Sunday.Death Cab for Cutie and
Car Seat Headrest
Two decades and nine albums
into their career, indie icons Death
Cab for Cutie are still going strong
with their distinct brand of bitter-sweet melodies and emotional
excavations. The band returns to
the Bowl with a slate of new songs
from its latest release, “Thank You
for Today,” alongside the alterna-
tive hits that made them an early-
’00s mainstay. Openers Car Seat
Headrest owe more than a small
debt to Death Cab’s influence,
with muscular riffs and incisive
songwriting.
Tickets start at $20. Hollywood
Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., 7 p.m.
Sunday.King Gizzard and the
Lizard Wizard
Frenetic Aussic rockers King
Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
have released 15 albums in less
than 10 years, with no sign of slow-
ing. The seven-piece outfit hits the
Greek Theatre next week, armed
with tracks from its new album
“Infest the Rats’ Nest.” The record
marks a thrash-metal departure
from the band’s psych-rock roots,
but its manic energy and gut-
punch grit amount to a sound
unmistakably all King Gizz’s own.
Tickets start at $25. Greek
Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave., 7:30
p.m. Tuesday.CARLY RAE JEPSENonstage last year in Las Vegas. She will
perform Saturday and Sunday at the Wiltern in Koreatown.Ethan MillerGetty ImagesJubilee finally brings her Magic show to L.A.
By Andrea Domanick
The week ahead is loaded with
plenty of outdoor concerts and
events to soak in the Southern
California sunshine.
LIVE MUSIC
Amid the extravagantly tat-
tooed DJs at the Hard Summer
music festival, one definitively
stood out.
The self-proclaimed world’s
biggest DJ — and who can be-
grudge him the title at 7-foot-1? —
goes by “Diesel,” and spins a mix of
dubstep, trap and hip-hop. Most
know him by the name inscribed on
his Basketball Hall of Fame
plaque, Shaquille O’Neal, the for-
mer Lakers great and four-time
NBA champion.
So, what’s one of the most domi-
nant forces in pro sports history
doing at an electronic music festi-
val, preparing to headbang along-
side thousands of discerning fans
of the heavy, core-shaking club mu-
sic known as bass?
“I just like to make the people
jump up and down like it’s a Game
7,” said O’Neal with a boyish grin.
Hard Summer, held at the Auto
Club Speedway in Fontana on Sat-
urday and Sunday, was one of the
last stops on Shaq’s Summer
League tour. He’s also performed
at Parade of Bass at Red Rocks in
Denver, Ushuaïa Beach Club in
Ibiza and Tomorrowland in Bel-
gium. After Hard Summer, he was
en route to Chicago for a Sunday
set at Lollapalooza.
Less than 30 minutes before he
took the stage at Hard, O’Neal, 47,
sat casually — and surprisingly,
unbombarded by autograph re-
quests — in a quiet corner of shade.
He pointed to a posse of twenty-
something bass bros in the dis-
tance. “I formed a crew,” he said,
“Nghtmre, Eliminate, Nitti Gritti ...
and we’re creating a guy called
Dubstep Jesus — we’re producing
him right now and I’m going to
bring him on tour.”
In 2014, three years after O’Neal
stopped playing professionally and
was in search of something to re-
place the adrenaline rush, he at-
tended the now defunct Tomor-
rowWorld festival in Chatta-
hoochee Hills, Ga. It wasn’t
O’Neal’s first musical revelation —
his 1993 debut rap album “Shaq
Diesel” went platinum and he’s
been DJing for over 20 years — but
it was his introduction to the world
of massive EDM festivals.The experience swept him off
his size-22-feet. He returned to To-
morrowWorld the following year,
this time as a performing DJ. (He
even avoids DJing for his friends’
kids’ Sweet Sixteens because they
lack the freedom and rush of a
rave.)
His motivations aren’t driven
by a paycheck. In fact, he said he’s
losing money by being on tour. “I fly
private everywhere and they don’t
pay me that much,” he said. “It
ain’t about the money — all for
fun.”
Speaking of fun, footage of him
slam-dancing with fans a fraction
of his size and commanding his au-
dience to go buck wild are some of
the internet’s greatest gifts in 2019.
It’s also a big reason Meagan
DesChenes, the 33-year-old head
of Hard Events, wanted him in the
lineup this year alongside artists
like Kid Cudi, Ms. Mada and Alison
Wonderland, to name a few.
“When we announced him, peo-
ple were so excited and it’s mainly
because of all those videos that
surfaced of him being with the fans
— they love that,” DesChenes said,
adding: “And, it’s Shaq. How manyof these DJs are champions?”
When she learned DJ Diesel was
playing dubstep of all subgenres,
she knew he’d be a hit with Hard’s
core audience. Despite the turbu-
lence the festival has weathered in
recent years and transitions
through owners, leaders and lo-
cales, it remains a lit destination
for your quintessential SoCal bass
head.
DJ Diesel played to a rambunc-
tious crowd overflowing the Green
Tent on Saturday. Kicking things
off with the proclamation, “Your
king has returned, Los Angeles,”
his set featured hits from elec-
tronic duo GTA, remixes of
Kendrick Lamar’s “m.A.A.d city”
and Alice Deejay’s rave classic,
“Better Off Alone.” Queen’s sports
anthem “We Will Rock You” was
also in rotation.
Naturally, the crowd was
flecked with bursts of purple and
yellow. A Lakers-esque flag that
read “Los Angeles Ravers” stood
still in the dry heat, while a piñata
totem with O’Neal’s face on it
poked through the sea of people
just above it. This was Lakers
country, and DJ Diesel, a.k.a.Shaquille O’Neal, a.k.a. Shaq,
a.k.a. Shaq Diesel, was home.
And what of those Lakers?
Between stops on his three-
month tour, O’Neal, who is an ana-
lyst on TNT network’s “Inside the
NBA,” has been reveling in the off-
season drama.
“For the first time in my basket-
ball life, there’s been real L.A. talk,”
he said of the reignited rivalry be-
tween the Lakers and the Clippers.
“This is the first time both sides
can really say ‘We’re the best team
this year in this city,’ and mean it.”
Back at Hard, his performance
review from the crowd was a verita-
ble slam dunk.
Jessica Garcia, 25, emerged
from the scene flushed and smil-
ing.
“This was my first time seeing
him ever,” she said. “I was a little
skeptical at first but I had so much
fun dancing the whole time. I did
not expect this from him. I first
thought, ‘A DJ, is this a joke?’ But I
had such a good time.”
Another attendee with a puz-
zled look on his face perhaps
framed it best: “Shaq is not that
bad!”FESTIVALgoers at Hard Summer showed up in droves for DJ Diesel. His music set featured hits from electronic duo GTA, Kendrick Lamar, Alice Deejay and Queen.
Adam KargenianInsomniac EventsShaq finds his groove
Go backstage at Hard Summer festival with DJ Diesel, a.k.a. Shaquille O’Neal
By Julissa James