Paul Oakenfold

( December 27, 2012 )

Long before electronic dance music drew hundreds of thousands of neon-painted hipsters to events like the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas and producer-DJs from Calvin Harris to Afrojack were improving hit singles by mainstream pop stars, there was Oakenfold. The 49-year-old DJ came out of London's house-music scene in the late '80s, has remixed U2 and produced Madonna; he spews out album after album (many on his own Perfecto label) of beats that can soothe even the most anxious of robots.

8 p.m., headlining the Chicago NYE Ball at the Castle, 632 N. Dearborn, $150; 312-266-1944