Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images
Audio By Carbonatix
“This is my first time in Dallas, and you guys are driving me crazy,” said Peggy Gou to a raucous crowd at Silo on Friday night.
It would be the only thing she said all night: Gou meant business. This comes as no surprise, given that the self-managed, South Korea-born DJ and producer has more on her mind than ever. Though Gou has been releasing music since 2014, her 2023 single “(It Goes Like) Nanana” marked her entry into mainstream consciousness, giving Gou her first Billboard chart hit that peaked at No. 33 and sits today at a cool 609 million Spotify streams.
You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the song that summer, but Gou is even harder to avoid now, headlining festivals, featuring on the forthcoming F1: The Album to accompany the Brad Pitt-starring film, running her merch line whose exclusive drops sell out Supreme-style, and even designing limited-edition bottles of Don Julio 1942. Her debut album, I Hear You, was released in June 2024, with tracklist appearances from Lenny Kravitz and Puerto Rican rapper Villano Antillano.
Gou is globally in demand, yet she made time out of her jet-setting schedule to come to Dallas. From the very first song, a remix of “Set Me Free” by Nic Fanciulli, Gou leaned into a more industrial techno sound that felt far from the melodic house hits she’s known for. By the third song, it became clear that she was intent on creating the right vibe for a high-production warehouse venue rather than the sunrise sets in Ibiza and Miami she’s no doubt used to playing.
The techno might only have surprised the audience, though; Gou, who moved to Berlin in 2014 and was the first Korean DJ to play in the city’s fabled Berghain, was right at home. And she looked it on stage, raising arms covered in her signature tattoos to dance under an ever-changing backdrop: Gou’s name in Korean, blown up in colorful 3D characters; Gou’s name in English hanging in pendant form from a diamond-paved chain; a pigtailed cartoon version of Gou on a dragon’s back, dodging cotton candy-colored clouds.
As a DJ whose influences span the world over, her cross-continental roots made one of the night’s most memorable moments also its least surprising. About 40 minutes into the set, Gou began playing UKG, a version of EDM that originated in 1990s England and is finding popularity in the U.S. (British DJ Sammy Virji, who’s also coming to Silo on May 16, recently performed a true UKG set at Coachella to much praise). Gou mixed frenetic British rap with Megan Thee Stallion’s “Body,” creating a conversation held over the sound of wobbling bass (or “wubs”) that’s usually found in dubstep music.
Notably, Gou didn’t dip into her own discography until over an hour into the set with the high-energy “like JENNIE,” the Blackpink member’s eponymous self-love anthem that Gou officially remixed and released as a single on April 10. This could have come as a disappointment to the casual fans who’d arrived expecting a night of Gou’s own hits, but it became evident that Gou understood her audience and knew how to play to them in real time. At the set’s midway mark, “like JENNIE” presented a place for her to bring that casual fan back into the fold before finally delivering a slew of melodic, deep house pleasers with singalong value.
At 1:16 a.m., Gou set the unmistakable “eeh-err” of Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” on replay to a crowd that appeared incredulous at first but ended up chanting along to every sped-up “fuck 12, fuck SWAT” from the song’s opening lyrics. Then came a rendition of Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek,” distorted enough to make the droning, almost dread-inducing “Whatcha Say” sample sound like a happy song.
With half an hour left in the set, the first notes of “(It Goes Like) Nanana” were met with uproarious, if not a little impatient, approval. For a song that was inescapable two summers ago, it’s lost none of its staying power. Gou cut the sound throughout her performance to let the crowd sing back its silly-but-sweet lyrics about those unexplainable feelings of, well, nanana-a joy that comes with falling in love or going out with friends or maybe spending a warm May night dancing at Silo. We’re hard-pressed to think of another song that can get everyone moving like this, but the infectious, thumping bassline and a sample of ATB’s 1998 song “9 PM (Till I Come”) make it easy to see why. Though “(It Goes Like) Nanana” has its detractors, it’s the perfect proof that songs with mass appeal have it for a reason.
The crowd thinned slightly after, regrettable considering that Gou’s 2024 single “Find the Way” followed with the same light, danceable energy. By the time she ended the night at 1:56 a.m. with “Baby I Don’t Know” by K&K, Gou had played only three of her own songs in a set that reminded fans she’s more than just a hit-making producer. Dallas was just lucky to be able to witness a music and fashion icon flexing her muscles as a super-skilled DJ. And although it was her first time in the city, we’ll be glad to welcome her back anytime.
