Are you an EDM fan? Then the Miller Lite Oasis was the place to be Thursday night. Not much an EDM fan, and think that the genre is just a guy pressing play on his laptop and then jumping up and down a lot? Then somehow the Oasis was the place for you as well. Prefer a poppier sound with recognizable radio hits? The Oasis stage. Aggressively crunchy Skrillex-esque dubstep beats? You guessed it: Oasis stage. Blues? OK, well, then you probably should've been over at Buddy Guy at the Uline Warehouse – but otherwise, Gryffin's hour-plus opening day dance party at the Miller Lite Oasis offered something for everyone in the crowd, seemingly putting in a concerted effort to deliver more than the average, stereotypical EDM show. And succeeding. 

Stepping onto his raised platform of exposed scaffolding beams with just a giant screen behind him, decked in one of his signature baseball jerseys, the 35-year-old DJ/producer started the night off regularly backlit and often in the dark. The screen mostly stuck to a barrage of colorful (if not particularly notable) screensaver images and neon-glitched live video feeds of Gryffin, with the occasional laser light show and streamer shooting out just over the raving crowd's heads – practically minimalist by modern bombastic EDM standards. Those staging flourishes stayed fairly limited as the night went along, save for one final preposterous blizzard of blinding confetti that seemed to answer where the production budget went. 

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Instead of technical theatrics, the music, the beats and the party were set as the stars of the night – and with Gryffin at the helm, they were all up to shouldering the task on Thursday night.

Opening the night with a blast of dubstep beats, the DJ kept the packed Oasis crowd – filling out the main bleachers at the start and expanding far beyond as the rave went on – on their feet as well as on their toes. Venturing from the thrashing techno Skrillex to his own dreamy dance pop hit "Just For a Moment," Gryffin kept things energetic and unpredictable – especially with his next move: an actual instrument. Indeed, maybe ten or fifteen minutes into the set, Gryffin pulled out a guitar to shred alongside his beats, much to the crowd's approval. It wasn't a one-off either, bringing the guitar back out several other times for his collaborations "All You Need to Know" and "Woke Up In Love," adding a real sense of musical performance to a genre that's often accused of being overly programmed. 

@gryffinofficial #WokeUpInLove #Gryffin @Summerfest #Summerfest #Milwaukee pic.twitter.com/BwuZivNwmZ

— EmoGiggles (@Emo_Giggles) June 23, 2023

Gryffin's guitar solos weren't the only bursts of live performance mixed in with the dance party, as midway through the night, for "Glitch in the Simulation," Gryffin came to the front of the stage and, under a single spotlight, played the beats live alongside the song on a drum machine. The DJ seemed to be working hard Thursday night to put on an EDM show with a little more – and with those splashes of genuine live performance, it worked. Even if the spectacle factor was on the low end for the genre, the sense of musical showmanship was high – and brought its own sense of spectacle to the literal party.

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Even when Gryffin ventured back onto his perch and behind the table, his sense of musicality and giving the crowd the most continued on. Why settle for some EDM when Gryffin seemed eager to deliver all of the EDM during Thursday's Oasis set, his mixes bouncing unpredictably from genre to subgenre, crowd-favorite remixes to earwormy originals. The set could go from pulsing house beats to swoony dancefloor pop bangers to a "Sweet Dreams" remix, swerving viciously into a head-banging dubstep detour, then pivoting to Kanye West and Jay-Z's hit "N****s in Paris." And it's never a bad night when "Sandstorm" makes an appearance.

@Darudevil @gryffinofficial @Summerfest sick remix!! #Gryffin #summerfest #milwaukee pic.twitter.com/ZBYhzkUt9s — EmoGiggles (@Emo_Giggles) June 23, 2023

Hitting all sorts of styles and hitting (or holding) beats at playfully unexpected times, Gryffin's show seemed intent on not letting a crowd member leave unsatisfied, no matter their preferences – and indeed the energy coming off the confetti-covered Miller Lite Oasis stage said that nobody did. EDM doesn't need saving or protecting – it's doing just fine, thanks – but for skeptics, Gryffin's opening night set gave EDM a great name.