ACL Live Shots

Deadmau5

Perched 10 feet up behind an all-black Daft Punk-style DJ booth, Deadmau5's stage act is a mystery. Throw in a giant, ambiguous mouse helmet and all-black backdrop, and getting a read on the DJ born Joel Zimmerman is an absolute shot in the dark. The Niagara Falls native fought two brief, early short circuits and an overrunning LCD Soundsystem finale to set off the weekend's thickest rave, an hour of throbbing synth hits and industrial house that no one in attendance seemed to recognize. Not that it was of any concern. With faux flames fighting for screen space against demonic red mouse silhouettes, the DJ hero mixed on-the-spot techno shifts with cuts from 2008's Random Album Title ("Sometimes Things Get, Whatever") and last year's For Lack of a Better Name ("Ghosts 'n' Stuff"), keeping heads bobbing and shoulders shaking to bridge the gap between James Murphy's electric boogie-down and the two-headed hype magnets that headlined on Saturday. You can't ask for more from a rave DJ chopping it up at sunset.