Few or no visuals hurts a good show.
by Jack Savage on 10/13/25Hard Rock Live Orlando - OrlandoRating: 4 out of 5Electronic music legends The Crystal Method and Paul Oakenfold brought their decades of experience to Hard Rock Live Orlando on October 10, but while one delivered a pulse-pounding, no-frills performance that electrified the crowd, the other got a bit lost in space. Literally. The Crystal Method: All Energy, No Filler Scott Kirkland, the man behind The Crystal Method, proved you don’t always need flashy visuals to command a room. His set was an unrelenting wave of high energy, mixing genre-defining classics with fresh material that reminded the audience why he's still a powerhouse in the scene. The lack of visuals was noticeable, especially in a venue like Hard Rock Live where production can elevate a show — but strangely, it didn’t take away from the experience. The music was the show, and it was everything fans came to hear. Driving beats, soaring synths, and crowd-pleasing drops kept the floor moving from start to finish. Paul Oakenfold: A Strange Trip Through Time... and Space? In contrast, Paul Oakenfold’s set felt like a strange mismatch of nostalgia and missed opportunity. His tracklist leaned heavily on old, radio-friendly selections, including music from movie soundtracks, with a few classic trance gems sprinkled in. But the music wasn’t the real issue; it was the visuals. Oakenfold’s backdrop was a surreal parade of outdated, 1997-style 3D animation — think low-res spaceship graphics and oddly animated characters — with an overwhelming amount of virtual Pauls piloting some kind of intergalactic rave cruiser. If that wasn’t distracting enough, the persistent presence of Pioneer DJ branding every five or six minutes made the whole thing feel like a weird corporate-sponsored fever dream. At a time when fans — many of whom grew up with these artists — are paying premium prices to relive and re-feel those epic nights of the late '90s and early 2000s, this kind of production felt cheap and disconnected. It’s not about being flashy for flash’s sake — it’s about curating an experience. And Oakenfold’s felt out of sync with the audience he's cultivated over the years. Final Verdict The night was a mixed bag. The Crystal Method delivered exactly what longtime fans were hoping for: a high-energy set that didn’t rely on gimmicks. Paul Oakenfold, on the other hand, could benefit from rethinking his visual direction — or at the very least, ditching the retro space odyssey and giving fans something that better matches the musical legacy he's known for.