It might be that I’m getting too old for his particular brand of build-it-up-and-drop-it EDM, but British DJ Jonas Blue’s go on the White Stage Friday night just felt downright lazy.

Thin on tricks and often generic, Blue never strayed far from what many would call the cookie-cutter, garden variety EDM formula, seemingly putting the show on autopilot from the beginning. Blasts of steam as the beat dropped were repetitive and quickly became predictable, losing their novelty after the first few uses. While the crowd was mostly into it, attempts at in-song banter like “ONE MORE TIME FUJI ROCK JAPAAAAN!” which was shouted countless times, only reinforced the set’s totally calculable feel.

Pulling out well known track “Fast Car” (a pulsing EDM cover of Tracy Chapman’s melancholic single) early in the set definitely got the crowd moving but left the latter half of the set rather empty of memorable tracks until encore/finisher “Rise” appeared.

If there was a highlight, it was in a special guest appearance by J-pop group BE:FIRST, who collaborated with Blue on the very recent “Don’t Wake Me Up”. The group performed a choreographed number to the track, which boasts one of the catchiest melodies of the night’s repertoire, injecting some variety into a set that felt otherwise quite par-for-the-course even in terms of what you’d normally expect from an EDM performance.

Throwing in a few small twists which included his rework of Major Lazer’s “Pon de Floor” kept the audiences attention and never let the tempo slow to a crawl, but still couldn’t seem to add much originality to the performance, even with help from pyrotechnic bursts and slick visuals on the LED screen.

Perhaps my view is bit jilted, but I’d advise any mere casual fans of Blue to give his future sets a miss unless they somehow get an added dose of range and surprise.

SETLIST

Intro
Fast Car
All Night Long
Don’t Wake Me Up
Show Me Love
I Wanna Dance
Perfect Melody
Kream
Needing You
By Your Side
Trinity
All Night Long
Pon de MAMA
Maria Maria
Polaroid
What I Like About You
Rise