"Best $2k I Ever Spent!" Taking Crowd Surfing Up A Notch With Steve Aoki At The Palladium

Unlike most experiences where you get groped by a gigantic group of strangers, crowd surfing doesn't usually leave you depressed, hostile and in need of extensive therapy. In fact, quite the opposite: crowd surfing expresses a deep connection between an audience that's completely grooving on the show, and the performers who want to immerse themselves in that love. Only, like monogamy or The Strokes, crowd surfing has become a little too stale and boring lately. Or at least, it had before Steve Aoki and friends played the Palladium last weekend.

It seems Steve and crew have a few new ideas about what makes a good crowd-surf. Traditionally, you could consider your expedition a success as long as you didn't get penetrated or severely injure some woman with your gigantic body. But the Dim Mak crew clearly has bigger goals:

Stage One: Inflatable Bananas

Success is all about managing expectations. For example, if you want your crowd to be ready for some seriously weird stage diving antics, you'd better make sure that their minds are open to all sorts of weird shit making its way out there. Hence, a healthy mixture of gigantic inflatable bananas and actual bananas.

Stage Two: Trial Dives

Once the bananas have made their way around, you have to test the waters to be sure they're ready. So you get out there. The key factors that you're testing for are crowd enthusiasm, teamwork ability, and general navigation. You're also trying not to get smacked in the face by that one dude who's waving his crutches in the air for some reason. And remember, it gets hot out there. Bring a bottle of water.

The facedown surf says to the world, I am foolishly confident that my genitals will not be removed from my body during this process.

Stage Three: I'm On A Motherf%$king Boat

I instantly apologize for the tired SNL reference. And yet, how else would you describe this:

Yes, that's Aaron Paul.

If you're trying to tell me that crowd-boating through the Palladium on an inflatable raft with "Breaking Bad's" Aaron Paul and a bunch of pretty ladies spraying Moet at everything doesn't sound like the most fun thing in the world, then you are a liar and we can't be friends anymore.

[All photos via The Cobra Snake]