Kaskade, DJ Diesel (Aka Shaquille O’Neal) Among The Headliners At This Year’s Indy 500 Snake Pit

Instead of shooting hoops, Shaquille O’Neal will be cranking the turntable as the former National Basketball Association (NBA) star is among the performers for this year’s all-star lineup for the 2023 Indy 500 Snake Pit Presented by Coors Light.

The headliner is Grammy Award-nominated musician Kaskade, who is the main attraction in a star-studded lineup of global electronic music artists at the Indy 500 Snake Pit that takes place in Turn 3 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on race day for the 107th Indianapolis 500 on May 28.

Subtronics, John Summit, DJ Diesel (aka Shaquille O’Neal) and Jauz also will perform at the Race Day concert during the 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Performances begin early in the morning on the stage located in theinfield adjacent to Turn 3 of the IMS oval, with specific set times to be announced.

“One of the biggest parties of Race Weekend is the Indy 500 Snake Pit presented by Coors Light,” IMS President J. Douglas Boles said. “The always unforgettable and epic party in the Snake Pit is a May highlight for many of ourfans and an experience like no other. Music fans won’t want to miss this incredible lineup.”

Ryan Raddon, known as Kaskade, is a household name in electronic music with many impressive firsts credited to his name. He was the first solo electronic dance artist to sell out both Navy Pier in Chicago (his hometown) and the Staples Center in Los Angeles (his home now). Kaskade was also the first DJ to secure aLas Vegas residency, creating the landscape for the city’s future entertainment structure. He was the first electronic artist to headline Coachella. In July 2021, Kaskade came out of quarantine swinging as the first ever solo headlining musician to sell out and perform for a public event at LA’s SoFi Stadium.

This will be Kaskade’s second performance in the Snake Pit, as he also providedthe Snake Pit’s soundtrack during the 99th Indianapolis 500 in 2015.

Kaskade has recorded 12 studio albums and received seven Grammy nominations. With collaborations under his belt with heavy hitters Alicia Keys,Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and

Meghan Trainor, he has the unique talent of creating his signature sound in any genre. Most recently Kaskade has teamed up with fellow producer and Snake Pit artist deadmau5 to form Kx5. Their debut single “Escape” has cracked the Top40 and soared to the No. 1 Dance single on Mediabase charts.

O’Neal is one of the most dominant basketball players in NBA history and is also one of the greatest entertainers on Earth as DJ Diesel. At 7-foot-1 and 325 pounds, Shaq’s larger-than-life personality and powerful athleticism have resulted in worldwide admiration and one of the most passionate fan bases in sports and entertainment.

The Hall of Famer first discovered electronic dance music after crashing thefestival TomorrowWorld in 2014, a milestone event that changed his life forever after being exposed to DJs such as Steve Aoki and Skrillex. He made his performance debut at the same festival a year later.

DJ Diesel has been passionate about music from a very young age. At just 14after O’Neal saw Public Enemy live for the first time, while sandwiched in a crowd of 5,000 people, he became fixated on DJing. He cut his neighbors’ grass, walked dogs, and scraped together any cash he could until he saved up $200 tobuy his first set of turntables at a local pawn shop. Fast forward to 1993, O’Neal’s rap album, “Shaq Diesel,” did the unthinkable of selling over a million copies and peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard 100, cementing him as the only athlete ever with a platinum-selling album.

Jesse Kardon, known as Subtronics, fuses his unique blend of cutting-edge sounddesign with hard-hitting bass to push the envelope with sound engineering.

In January 2022, Subtronics dropped his debut album “FRACTALS,” which charted at No. 4 on the Billboard Dance album chart and had a dedicated billboard in Times Square in New York. The album coincided with his massive 50-plus date, sellout national headline bus tour, the FRACTAL Tour, whichfeatured state-of-the-art production and visuals. The tour traveled with a custom-built stage, including a floating DJ table within a reflective black hole dubbed The Wormhole.

Subtronics dropped his “ANTIFRACTAL” album in December 2022, featuring exclusive VIPs and remixes from himself and heavyweights including VirtualRiot, Wooli, Peekaboo, A Hundred Drums and more. He is gearing up for his 2023 ANTIFRACTUAL headline tour, which is a first of its kind touring deal across Live Nation, Insomniac Events and C3, along with their international properties.

Hailing from a city steeped in house culture, Chicago’s John Summit has quickly become one of the hottest names in dance music worldwide. His feel-good floor-fillers take the pumping grooves of his hometown’s classic house music, add ahealthy dose of melody, and top it off with 2020s studio polish.

Summit’s prolific output has resulted in the accumulation of 5 million monthly Spotify listeners, the top-selling artist across all genres on Beatport in 2021 and a No. 1 track on U.S. dance radio with his record “Human.” In 2022, he toured across the globe with key festival plays at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Tomorrowland, Bonnaroo, Parklife and more. With the announcement of his new label/event brand Off The Grid, Summit is displaying no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Jauz, the project of Sam Vogel, a 26-year-old Los Angeles-based icon collective graduate, combines brilliant production, energetic sets and underground vibesthat have captivated the hearts of the dance community. Jauz’s release of the addictive mid-tempo original “Feel the Volume” earned him international recognition after its release. Gaining support early on from industry heavyweights like Zedd, Skrillex, Diplo andothers, Jauz quickly became included on every major festival lineup. His euphoric originals and viral remixes seamlessly weave in and out of several musical categories.

Jauz has boasted two sell-out tours – “The Friendzy Tour” in 2016 and “The Bite America! Tour” in 2018 to launch his artist label “Bite This!” in 55 different cities across the U.S. and Canada. All while also releasing his debut album “TheWise & The Wicked” that reached No. 1 on the dance charts in under two hours and earned over 20 million streams in less than three weeks from its release.

Tickets for the 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May28 and the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday, May 13 are available at www.ims.com.

General admission and VIP tickets for the Snake Pit are on sale for $50 and $155 at www.ims.com. VIP amenities will include access to a raised viewing platformlocated beside the stage, a private cash bar and private air-conditioned restrooms.

All Snake Pit ticketholders must be at least 18 years old and hold a valid Indy500 general admission or reserved seat ticket. Ticket holders should be prepared to show proper identification to enter the concert.

Packages that include Race Day general admission tickets are available. A package featuring general admission to the Indianapolis 500 and Snake Pit is $90,while a race general admission and Snake Pit VIP package is $195.

Snake Pit concertgoers are encouraged to buy tickets now, as prices will increaseas May approaches and limited quantities of admission wristbands are available.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucemartin/2023/01/18/kaskade-dj-diesel-aka-shaquille-oneal-among-the-headliners-at-this-years-indy-500-snake-pit/