Swedish DJ Eric Prydz gives residency a Vegas twist

Let’s say you are a 36-year-old Swedish DJ-producer. And you just signed a contract with Wynn-Encore to perform regularly at XS and Surrender nightclubs. How do you adjust to Vegas clubs?

After all, your background is quite different since it is Euro, if you are Eric Prydz.

“The places I come from are, like, the warehouse parties in London, and big European indoor dark parties, where it’s all about the music, and just the music, and it’s not about the Champagne and the Gucci bags,” says Prydz, who moved to L.A. with his family late last year.

“Up until now, Las Vegas has been extremely different than where I come from, and what I do, and what my shows look like. So it was a big challenge for us to come up with what would work for me as a residency in Vegas.”

What Prydz came up with is a residency called “Black Dice,” which he describes as “me doing my thing, but with a Las Vegas twist.”

It’s a balance between that European “dark party” musicality, and Vegas glam.

And you never know what’s up Prydz’s DJing sleeve, since he plays different sets of music every night, even at big stages such as Coachella and Ultra music fests.

In fact, Prydz performs under different aliases for different electronic-music styles. When he spins dark underground techno, his stage name is Cirez D. When he does driving house, he’s Pryda.

And his more accessible hits are listed under Eric Prydz. That’s how he’s booked for Surrender (on Friday; plus June 15; and July 4) and at XS (on June 23).

And he is mystified as to why other DJs perform fixed set lists in Las Vegas.

“That doesn’t really make sense to me,” Prydz says. “For my own amusement, I want to have fun when I DJ. So I never pre-plan my set.

“I might know the first track I’m going to put on. But the rest is improvisation. I think that’s one of the things people who follow me like: They know they’re gonna hear stuff they’ve never heard before — loads of new material.”

Doug Elfman’s column appears on Page 3A in the main section on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He also writes for Neon on Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.