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KAYTRANADA X Justice, Chicago United Center 2025: Concert Review
- Ava Simoni
- Nov 16, 2025
- 8 min read
What better place is there to experience a KAYTRANADA X Justice show than in the hometown of house music? Of course, I’m talking about Chicago. MJ & I had the sickest opportunity to see Sam Gellaitry, KAYTRANADA, and Justice perform on November 5th, 2025, at the Chicago United Center. I hold extreme gratitude towards UIC Radio, Orienteer, and the United Center for the amazing opportunity and the incredible experience that followed.
Sam Gellaitry is a Scottish producer, DJ, and singer-songwriter. He specializes in genre-bending electronic music, blending together house, synthpop, electropop, and more, with early incorporations of trap.
KAYTRANADA (Louis Kevin Celestin) is a Haitian-Canadian producer, DJ, singer-songwriter, and rapper. He specializes in genre-bending electronic music, blending together house, R&B, hip-hop, funk, and more.
Justice (Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay) is a French producer/DJ duo. They specialize in genre-bending electronic music, blending together house, disco, rock, and more.
Entrance/Sam Gellaitry
We got to the United Center around 7 pm and made our way to the will-call line. While waiting in line for our tickets and passes, I heard two people behind me talking about press for the night, so I turned around, and I couldn’t believe it. It was two people from the Chicago Music Discovery Platform, Real Ones.
Pardon this brief interruption, but two years ago, in September 2023, I went to my first solo show (shoutout, Paris Texas at Lincoln Hall!). It was a huge deal for me since I had just made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t miss out on show opportunities just because I would be going solo. At the end of the show, while everyone was waiting outside to meet Paris Texas, I saw these guys with a camera waiting to interview them (and they did!). I found out that they were a part of a music discovery platform (now also an event production company), Real Ones. Witnessing people close to my age on the business side of the entertainment industry was what first put the idea in my mind that this was something I could do in the future. So, thank you, Real Ones, for being my first inspiration to get into live shows in more ways than just an audience member!
Back to the KAYTRANADA X Justice show! Running into Real Ones at a show once again—this one being my first press experience—felt like a true full circle moment for me. We got our seat tickets and my photo pass, then MJ and I parted ways as I and one of the photographers from Real Ones were led to the floor. It was so surreal walking behind the scenes of such a massive venue. I could hear the end of Sam Gellaitry’s set booming before I walked out onto the floor.
There was so much to take in! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to capture any photos of Gellaitry, but I was able to watch him play his final and ever-so-popular song, Assumptions, before he exited the main stage. I have been a fan of Sam Gellaitry since the first time I heard him on Picture in My Mind, a Pink Pantheress track that was produced and co-written by Gellaitry, who also provided some vocals. So, I was super bummed that I didn't see more of his set. Sam Gellaitry, Chicago needs you back ever so soon.
KAYTRANADA
While I waited for KAYTRANADA to come out, everyone started excitedly gathering around the B Stage in the center of the floor, where he would be performing. I was in the back, head-on with the stage, when I heard everybody around me start cheering and turning around. KAYTRANADA made his grand entrance as he calmly entered from the back right of the floor, confidently walking through the crowd before jumping up on stage. He started his set with Drip Sweat as I mercilessly started snapping my camera. The energy was infectious; ugh, it was perfect. Everybody was moving. I should expect nothing less from a KAYTRANADA show.
About a quarter of the way through his set, KAYTRANADA literally ascended as the stage started to rise. The light show throughout his set was absolutely amazing, but my favorite part was the sea of colors as after he was lowered down and stood there doing his thing while he played Lover/Friend, one of my absolute favorites from his 2024 album, "Timeless". Now he dances a lot, as he absolutely should! But to see him so humble working his board with the beautiful colors flooding out from behind him, man, that was otherworldly.
With KAYTRANADA’s status as a renowned music producer, one of my favorite aspects of his set is the fact that he went through not only a huge variety of his own releases, but also other artists' tracks that he’s produced or remixed. One of the standouts of his performance was definitely when he shouted out Chicago while playing Chance the Rapper’s All Night, produced by KAYTRANADA. I was also thrilled to hear Video, which is one of KAYTRANADA’s own songs but is supplied with vocals by another one of Chicago’s very own, Ravyn Lenae.
Another thing about KAYTRANADA, he knows how to work a crowd for real; I love the respect and engagement. At one point during his set, he asked the crowd to put their phones up, and the amount of light that immediately came on was so beautiful. Then, a little while afterwards, he told everyone to put their phones down, and BOOM, just like that, they were down. The crowd was so extremely kind and respectful throughout his entire set. I think sometimes crowds can make or break the whole experience. But everyone was just as happy as the next person to be there! By the end of his set, I was on the right side of the stage in the second row. I loved having the freedom to see the stage from a variety of viewpoints, especially with the level of production that went into his performance. As KAYTRANADA finished sipping his wine, he ended off the set with his recently GRAMMY-nominated song, SPACE INVADER, before jumping down into the crowd and exiting through the floor.
Justice
I was still reeling from the incredible performance I just witnessed, trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was simply there. It was at this time that I was motioned over into the photo pit while waiting for Justice. I felt like a freaking princess. It was intimidating being in the photo pit with all of these professional men with their cameras, I will say that. But everyone was so courteous, my worries went away like that. While everyone was waiting for Justice’s set to start, a flash warning came on the stage for the light show, but I couldn’t even fathom what was to come later. Suddenly, the stage lit up as Genesis, the most godlike introduction song, boomed across the arena. If you haven’t heard the song before, literally imagine that kings just entered the arena. Deep, menacing trombones echoed as Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay stood one behind the other, each one on a different setup, stone-faced. Light filtered through behind them as the crowd shouted in excitement behind me. I snapped as many photos as I could in the first ten minutes before I was escorted out of the photo pit and went back onto the floor.
While on the floor, I had the privilege of seeing Justice perform two of my favorite songs from their 2024 album "Hyperdrama", Neverender and One Night/All Night, and the absolutely insane rainbow light shows accompanying them. The light show from this view was top-tier. I am so grateful that I was able to experience the performance head-on from the back of the floor. As One Night/All Night continued on, I started making my way off the floor and up to the seats to rejoin MJ. I was two steps out from behind the curtain, then suddenly turned around and sprinted back inside when I heard D.A.N.C.E. begin to fuse, remembering what was about to happen. Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of occasionally looking up videos of live shows before attending them, and I saw this part of their performance online. But this time, it was actually helpful. If I missed this part, I would’ve kicked myself for it later. They blended One Night/All Night with D.A.N.C.E., and as the lights shut off and “Dooooo theeee dance” rang out in the area, arguably one of the best light shows of all time came on. The production was off the charts, vibes were immaculate, and it was so beautiful. It was one of the highlights of the show, no doubt about it.
After the song was over, I finally left the area I was in and started to make my way over to MJ and I's seats. First, though, I had to grab some merch to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime experience. After I purchased a poster, I found MJ on the left side of the stage in the 100's sitting next to none other than members of Real Ones. Her view of KAYTRANADA was amazing, and I was so thrilled that she saw him play Dance Dance Dance, one of her favorite songs of his. Out of all of the shows that I’ve been to so far in my lifetime, this was only my second time at an arena show. As someone who likes to dance, I like my room so it’s typically GA or bust. But the view from these seats, even for Justice’s main stage set, was absolutely perfect. Especially with the light show!
As I heard some of the most ominous, stressful (hehe) sounds arise, I jumped up and screamed “THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG OF THEIRS”. It was none other than Stress, which you may have heard sampled in recent years by Lil Uzi Vert on the song Fire Alarm (feat. Snow Strippers). What I didn't know yet was that they were performing the "Woman Worldwide" edition of Stress, Stress WWW, which I must say was my first time hearing that version. The arena was lit up by red lights, and about a minute in, the song started to slow down as the lights coordinated to represent a siren spinning across the stage. As the beat continued to build, white lights started to flash across the stage before going dark for a moment. The beat dropped, red laser lights went everywhere, and I remember specifically this one girl in front of me absolutely losing it (in the best way). She never stopped dancing, and this was in the seated section. Let that be a lesson to everyone about what Justice will do to you. Soon afterwards, they played Afterimage - Justice Remix, and wow, I went into this experience as a casual fan of Justice, but this song did something to my brain. Absolutely hardcore, insane strobing lights and shooting lasers, everybody jumping up and down. I’ve had this song on repeat all week long, trying to relive the experience. I’ve been getting through Justice’s entire discography as well; I simply need to hear everything from them.
Justice’s set was by far the most insane live show I’ve seen this year. For those two guys to humbly stand there on their setups, stone-faced and silent, and give the most compelling, well-produced, and energetic set of the year…. absolutely absurd. Life changing. I am so upset that I left the set before the finale, but unfortunately, I had to leave. I made the grave mistake of not bringing earplugs, and frankly, my ears were hurting pretty bad. Advice for any show: bring earplugs! Additional advice for a Justice show: bring sunglasses.
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