Concert Report: Diplo (The Vanguard)

By in Concerts

Most people know it as Firestone or perhaps even Venue 578. But after heavy renovations that lasted more than two years, it reopened in December as The Vanguard.
DJ Prankstiscii (USA) was on stage when we first arrived.
Had planned to make a couple other stops first but when I walked by there was already a growing line to get inside so I thought I’d best get in while I could! The dance floor was already crowded at this early hour but nothing like it was about to become.
And mask compliance was surprisingly good early-on. That wouldn’t last long.
Pranksta’s set was a mix of House and EDM. The opening DJ’s played from decks positioned up front along the edge of the stage.
While the headliner would later play from that raised DJ booth positioned further back.
Within a half hour of arrival the dance floor was already packed.
Local favorite DJ Acraze (USA) came on around 11:15PM.
House music blasted as the club continued to fill-in.
Party in VIP!
There are a lot of bottle service positions in The Vanguard including these located on the balcony overlooking the dance floor. These are roughly where Firestone‘s glassed-in “The Loft” was located.
The dance floor itself faces the stage which is located along the building’s western wall which is where the raised VIP bar in Firestone previously stood.
We’ve previously seen Acraze play a couple times at EDC-Orlando. LINK
His set ended around 12:20AM and we went into a 10-minute intermission of sorts. And then the lasers came on…..
As did the name signs!
And there he was! Diplo (USA) This would be the best picture of him I would get all night as they kept it dark and smoky.
Packed to the rafters!
Under the overhang of that VIP bottle service area above.
Dancing early in his set to Cassius (F) hit “The Sound of Violence“.
Diplo was heavy on the vocal House and a lot of his selections were songs heard on his SiriusXM satellite radio channel 52 “Diplo’s Revolution” and his mix show “Records on Records”.
I had questioned whether Diplo had played Orlando previously but a friend reminded me that he played at EDC-Orlando. I checked the archives and sure enough, he played at EDC in 2017 as seen here with A-Trak (CDN). LINK
Thought this might have been his first show here in a club setting but another friend said he saw Diplo at Firestone around 2014 or so. A good time was had by all.