Paul Oakenfold is one of the few DJs who has been big in the 80’s, 90’s, Naughties, and is still going strong into the Teenies. He is as big today as he was 20 years ago, currently ranked the #69 DJ in the world. I don’t think he has ever been out of DJ Magazine’s Top 100 since the poll began. He has been the opening act for U2 and Madonna on their world tours, and remixed everything from Elvis to the James Bond theme. He also signed Salt-n-Pepa, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and “Fresh Prince” Will Smith when he was an A & R guy in New York, and he was the agent for the Beastie Boys in the UK before he was known as a DJ. He found the rave sound in Ibiza and Goa and spread it to every country in the world. He also threw the biggest rave ever in America, in Fresno.
DJ Paul Oakenfold at the Green Man, Burning Man 2007
I saw him playing in a stonehenge-type circle at Burning Man in 2004, playing whatever he wanted for about 7 hours to 50 or so people. It was one of the best nights I’ve ever had at Burning Man. He played a few times at Cargo Cult, I caught a bit of his set at White Ocean but was sadly disappointed. Simon Patterson and Asterix blew him out of the water, in my opinion. He is brilliant at playing to the crowd and he did seem to be giving them what they wanted. He’s one of the biggest names in the whole music business, in some circles even bigger than Diddy, and it’s great to have him still supporting the party.
Now we can all see a bit of what it’s like to be Oakey at Burning Man, thanks to the magic of Google Glass – yes, Oakey has joined the pack of Glassholes. Look for more “Burning Man from the DJ’s perspective” videos coming soon, I would like to see some Robot Heart sunrise ones perhaps.
The best place to see Paul Oakenfold is in Las Vegas, recently he was inducted into the Hard Rock Hotel Hall of Fame, for his services to Rehab…
[Update 11/19/13] Oakenfold has posted his set from Cargo Cult online.