Watch Skrillex’s opening set for Guns N’ Roses

Back in June, it was announced that Skrillex would be opening for Guns N’ Roses at the Houston stop of their reunion tour — a booking that perplexed rock and electronic fans alike. By all accounts thus far (including the video evidence below), Skrillex crushed his opening duties, wooing fans over with a special metal-inspired set. To prepare for the gig, Skrillex spent a week creating edits, remixes, and mashups that would appeal to Guns N’ Roses fans while still embodying the producer’s raucous taste in bass music.

“I wanted to warm up the crowd and entertain them so that by the time Guns N’ Roses came on they were semi-turnt,” Skrillex told Rolling Stone. “I put in my big songs and of course remixed them and did mash-ups. I threw in a bunch of old metal songs, as well. That was my preparation: throwing in Iron Maiden, Metallica, Pantera.”

A fan video of the performance has now surfaced, showcasing these special live edits in their maximum capacity. Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” for instance, can be heard mashed up with Jauz’s remix of Knife Party’s “Plur Police” at the beginning of the video. Later on, “Chop Suey” is fused with a menacing dubstep assemblage.

It turned out to be a surprisingly effective combination, and though it took some time to win the crowd over, Skrillex’s patience and proper planning ultimately paid off:

“When I stepped onstage, people were sitting down and were like, ‘What the fuck?’ After a few songs, I started throwing in some of the metal remixes and pitched them all to be in the same key as the ones I was mixing them with so it felt like a really smooth set,” he told Rolling Stone. “There was definitely moments when I threw in Queen or threw in the first Metallica sample, and people were like ‘Oh shit.’ It became a big sing-a-long.”

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