Thousands flocked to the Forty Acres dressed in ties and white button-up shirts. This crowd, however, gathered to dance — not to talk business.
John Schuster, known as John Summit, performed at the Moody Center on Friday for a sold-out show, bringing the energy of his “CTRL ESCAPE Arena Tour” to Austin, transforming Moody’s floor into a dance club for a night.
In line with the tour’s corporate theme, audience members dressed in a mixture of rave, club and business attire, complete with ties ranging from traditional solid-color to bright silver sparkle. John Summit, who worked as a certified public accountant at Ernst & Young before diving into his music career, emerged on stage in a full suit and tie, although he would later change. Summit’s white DJ table stood atop two legs made to look like old office computers.
Summit opened his set with a mix featuring snippets of songs off his new album CTRL ESCAPE, including “ALL THE TIME,” “SHADOWS” and “SATA.” Behind him sat a large stage piece resembling office building windows with “Summit CPAs” written on the corner rose. Dancers dressed in business attire accompanied him throughout the night.
Songs from his newest album dominated the first hour of the almost two-hour set. The show featured impressive, eye-catching lights and lasers, as well as pyrotechnics. “SHADES OF BLUE” played to a background of blue lights, adding a stunning visual element.
As the first hour came to a close, Summit shed his suit jacket, loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt before disappearing, only to reemerge dressed in a black tank top and baggy jeans at a different DJ stand in the 100th level of the stadium, surrounded by fans. Later in the night, the black tank top would come off, to wild cheers from the crowd.
Making his way back down to the main stage to finish the second half of his set, Summit supplied hits such as “Silence,” “Where You Are,” “Shiver” and “Sweet Disposition.” The audience showed their love with plenty of cheering and singing.
Toward the end of the set, the arena shared a tender moment. Summit turned to look at the screen behind him where a video played, showing his journey from early days as an accountant making music and DJ’ing in his spare time, to reaching the top of his craft selling out venues across the world.
At the end of the set, the music died down, and Summit told the crowd he had one more song to play, a remix of “DON’T BELIEVE IT.”
“This night was honestly perfect,” Summit said as he left the stage. “Thank you.”
