BREAKING: EDM artist 3LAU to open this year's Fling concert

3LAU — pronounced “Blau” — will open this year’s Spring Fling concert on April 15.

The decision to bring in an EDM artist continues Fling’s trend of bringing in DJs as openers. 3LAU’s mashups and tracks incorporating electro house, progressive house and dubstep are expected to be a hit with the audience.

Justin David Blau — 3LAU's real name — is a 25-year-old Las Vegas-based DJ who started producing mashups five years ago after vacationing in Sweden where he discovered EDM.

Upon returning to Washington University in St. Louis, he started posting his tracks on Youtube, and since then he has performed at festivals such as Electric Zoo in New York and EDC Las Vegas. He has released several singles and mixtapes.

SPEC Spring Fling and SPEC Concerts announced the artist and theme, “Fling of the Future," today at the Spring Fling Launch Party held in Houston Hall.

College senior and SPEC Concerts Co-Director Spencer Jaffe explained that for the past few years, Fling concert performers have included DJs “because there’s obviously a very large EDM scene at Penn, and it’s a way we can get people excited about going to a concert and hearing things they want to hear.”

Jaffe added that, especially with a DJ like 3LAU whose music centers largely around mashups, the audience will be able to recognize and hear all the popular hits they want to hear. “[He’s] definitely one of those DJs you don’t quite know by name but you’ve definitely heard the songs [before] and excitement will build after the release, but not as much initially,” Jaffe said.

3LAU is expected to complement the main act well, which will be released this Saturday. “The main act is a little bit — I don’t want to say a contrast to the opener — but definitely something different from what we had last year, but something I think people will be excited about,” Jaffe said.

SPEC Concerts is also aware that not all students are fans of electronic music. “We know that there’s a lot of students against EDM as well so we’re keeping [3LAU] as an opener so people who want the DJ can come … but that’s not the focus of the show this year,” Jaffe said.

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