Marshmello and Svdden Death made history with their recent tour stop in Chicago for their highly anticipated Mellodeath tour. 

The four stop tour commemorates the recent release of Marshmello and Svdden Death’s “Mellodeath Tapes Vol. 1,” a collection of five songs combining the sound of Marshmello and Svdden Death into a crazy compilation of hard-hitting bass. The songs also include collaborations with metal band Crown The Empire on “Fireball” and vocalist Jedwill on “Burn It Down.” With a great reception to their release, the two set off on their tour with incredible demand as every stop on the tour show so far has sold out.

Denver was the first to experience the brand new experience with Mellodeath’s Red Rock show on April 4th, complemented by a pop-up shop at the Larimer Lounge and a surprise Mellodeath set for the attendees prior to the show. While Colorado was the first to experience the Mellodeath treatment, the two made sure to save some surprises for their second stop in Chicago.

Both artists announced a pop-up shop at Weiner Circle, a small hotdog restaurant located in Park West. While the pop-up didn’t start until later in the afternoon, that didn’t stop fans from lining up as early as noon to get their hands on exclusive Mellodeath merch. Marshmello and Svdden Death did not arrive until 4:00 pm to deliver an early set before their performance at Aragon. Thousands of people swarmed the entire block with both fans and nonfans’ energy radiating throughout the entire area. A mosh pit quickly opened in the center of the madness with both DJs delivering an electric performance in perfect Chicago weather. 

Complaints from the city regarding noise and the size of the crowd forced the duo to cut their performance short after just 15 minutes. Despite this shortcoming, their performance gave fans a small taste of what was to come later in the evening.

The artist lineup for Mellodeath included the likes of techno DJ Munk, the rising riddim enigma Pyke, vocalist and dubstep producer Vampa and mystery project YVM3. Each of the artists contributed their intense sounds to the dark and heavy theme of the Mellodeath project.

Munk’s opening techno and hardstyle warmed up the crowd for Pyke, whose identity is shrouded behind a black mask and white clothing tagged with his own graffiti. His riddim led to pits of high knees and bouncing headbangers who eagerly inhaled each track. His departure gave way to Vampa who included a surprising amount of riddim compared to her usual dubstep-based sets.

Her closure would lead to the transition into YVM3, a project in which the anonymous DJ performs off stage as opposed to a typical DJ set. Tons of tearout and heavy drops hit the audience like a truck as the ghost DJ readied the crowd for the grand finale of the night.

As the stage crew quickly prepared the stage for Mellodeath, they raised another deck setup vertically above the original stage. While testing the visuals the crowd was able to see exactly what they were dealing with: two separate DJ booths complete with their own visual panels. 

The stage darkened and the song “Ceremony” was complemented by the entrance of Marshmello and Svdden Death who took an elevator up to the top stage to begin their performance. 

Headbangers were slammed with an armada of lights and lasers, cheering in awe of the astounding stage production. The duo hit the crowd with everything they had, Marshmello pulling out his recent dubstep collaborations “Movement” with Hol! and “Conquer” with Space Laces alongside Svdden Death slamming attendees with his dark dubstep drops and rhythmic riddim.

Marshmello managed to slide in a few of his iconic hits such as “Alone” and “Happier,” giving fans a short break from the intense atmosphere before diving right back in. 

Two special guests were also brought out onto the stage, metal and heavy electronic duo Bejalvin to sing their part of “Torsion” and Crown the Empire who opened up two giant walls of death whilst singing their part of “Fireball” to close the show with hundreds of people moshing together.

With the show over many headed back home from the venue, but Svdden Death had one more surprise for the windy city.

Primary Night Club hosted a late-night afterparty, headlined by the likes of Ubur and a surprise appearance of Yakz in a crazy back-to-back set. The second special appearance was the arrival of Bejalvin who, despite clarifying to the crowd that they don’t usually DJ, absolutely killed with a sporadic and hilarious set.  

To close out the night a surprise appearance by Svdden Death and Vampa played out their tunes to the crowd alongside Yakz and Bejalvin, and Svdden Death even climbed down into the mosh pit to party with his fans. 

A trifecta of sets, Mellodeath rocked Chicago in every way imaginable. From the chaotic Weiner Circle pop-up performance to the amazing show at Aragon and the banging after party, the entire day was loaded with an amazing display of talent from both Marshmello and Svdden Death.

The Mellodeath project is expected to continue past the current tour run in the near future and fans can expect another round of Mellodeath tapes sometime down the line. One can only imagine what sort of twisted melodies the two will conjure up and the next level of show production to come with it.