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Kaskade's Shoulder Dislocated by Fan During IDentity DJ Set

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Kaskade has DJ'ed at electronic music hotspots all over the globe, hosted exclusive poolside parties in Vegas, and now he's the de facto ambassador of Identity Festival.

The L.A. DJ/producer is on the road this summer spreading the EDM gospel with the roving U.S. fest which features dance music stars like Skrillex, Disco Biscuits, Rusko, Pete Tong, Modeselektor and more.

"When Identity Festival approached me," Kaskade recently told Spinner, "I felt the time was now and people were ready. With Lady Gaga as big as she is, it seems like part of the sound has crossed over to the mainstream. I knew someone was going to do something like this eventually, and that it was time for someone to get it together."

We asked Kaskade to send us a report from the road to give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the mega-party that is Identity. Here's his third blog:

After tearing up Tampa, I had to head to Europe, playing Manchester and London, for some pre-existing festival dates while Identity rolled on to Texas. I rejoined the festival in Albuquerque, not a short trip from London. The distance between the cities was further exaggerated by a temperature change of about 60 degrees, from 45 in London to 105 in New Mexico! I tried keeping cool by renting a water slide backstage, ostensibly for my kids, but I think I was the one who hogged it most of the day. Not a conventional backstage scene for a music tour.

Albuquerque had to be one of the coolest venues we have played on the tour. Situated on a hill in the high desert, the amphitheater had an amazing view over the whole valley. With the summer nights getting shorter, I was able to take in a truly unforgettable sunset before my gig that night.

From New Mexico we drove to San Diego, everyone was keen to push through and get to California to have a day off, so it was the longest trip on the bus to date, 14 hours. It was cool to get some actual drive-time while being awake, but I was happy when we finally pulled in to the city and got off the bus.

San Diego was the biggest show of Identity, with over 25,000 people. The excitement amidst the crowd was awesome, but it might have been even more palpable backstage. All the artists were super pumped to get out in front of the crowd, which by PM had filled up all the stages.

For me, these last two California dates were really special, it was like a homecoming, in every sense. I've been involved in the California scene for 13 years and to play these huge shows in San Diego and then San Francisco, where the crowd and the scene were so strong, really made me proud to have been part of this West Coast movement.

After San Diego it was up to San Francisco, a place I still think of as home despite having moved to Southern California. My energy levels were really high, and I wanted to do something special for the show. Steve Aoki and I decided to tag-team again on a side stage, we took to Twitter three hours in advance [to let our fans know]. The crowd was massive when we got on there, and Aoki and I were in high spirits. We jumped off the stage, the rafters, the decks, everywhere -- we were bouncing all over the place and crowd-surfing. Things got a little out of control. And, sadly for me, on my last jump as I was hauling myself back on the stage someone grabbed me to help me up and pulled my shoulder out of its socket. Lucky for me, one of my backstage crew knew what to do and popped it right back in. Adrenaline carried me through the last 20 minutes with Aoki, but I knew I was in pain. Some heavy painkillers sorted me out for my show, there was no way I was going to miss playing for San Francisco... The show must go on. It was worth the discomfort, the Bay Area really represented, and it felt like the most high-energy gig on the tour.

Next up was Nevada, a Sunday session with Pete Tong at Encore Beach was a great warm-up for Monday's Identity. Vegas has become a dance music mecca in the past 18 months, and 30 massive DJ-headlined events had already taken place over the weekend. Despite having played Vegas many times before I'd always played 21+ club shows in the city, so meeting thousands of [underage] Vegas fans who'd never had the chance to see me play live was an awesome experience.

One more stop awaits in Washington, hope to see you there.

Watch Footage of Kaskade Performing at IDentity Festival

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