This was a show I’d been looking forward to for a long time, and for different reasons than I’d normally look forward to a show for. This was the first show I went to after COVID had broken out, and the Nurture Tour was a huge deal for Porter Robinson fans, as this was the first live tour he had done in 7 years after a huge gap between his first and second albums. I’ve been a massive fan of his since the release of his single “Language” in 2012. I first saw him live during his Language tour here in Salt Lake City at In The Venue in July of 2012 while I was visiting from California. Before seeing Porter live on his WORLDS tour in 2014, I had a pretty close-minded approach to how electronic artists tour and just assumed they were all DJ sets. The magic of his WORLDS live show changed my life with specially catered visuals and live versions of each of his songs, so I was looking forward to how he would construct another live tour for this new album.

This was my first show at the Saltair and I was impressed with the venue, considering it’s kind of remote desert location. The inside was pretty spacious, but me and my friends decided to head for the balcony to get a better view as the pit in front of the stage was already packed by the time we arrived. After paying extra for balcony seats, we had an almost overhead view of the stage behind the speaker towers. This resulted in us catching more low frequencies than if we were elsewhere, but it wasn’t too egregious. The view and the privacy was definitely worth it, since the COVID vaccine rollout had only begun a few months prior.

The stage had to be modified for the show, which was a bit disappointing. Porter was touring with a special stage that had a floor made to be projected onto, but the stage was omitted for the show at the Saltair due to the custom stage exceeding the weight limit. Aside from that, the visuals were fantastic and the show went on without a hitch. I don’t regret getting that amazing view from the balcony, but I decided for any future shows I would want to show up when doors open so I can catch the energy of the pit I was dearly missing.