Mad Decent Block Party more than decent and slightly mad

Philadelphia expatriate DJ/producer/performer Wes Pentz - musical name, Diplo - brought his touring Mad Decent Block Party home to Festival Pier Thursday and Friday. And he showed just how much his soiree (and he, as an artist) has grown since the bash's humble beginnings.

The Mad Decent party, thrown by the Mad Decent recording label, began at what was then a mausoleum showroom and is now PhilaMOCA, several miles from the pier on N. 12th Street in 2008. It was so intimate and humble in those days that the showrunner helped sweep up. This time, though, Diplo and friends brought a show that's bigger and bigger. On Thursday, Diplo played as Jack Ü with Skrillex, with Flosstradamus and ILoveMakonnen bringing up the rear. Then on Friday, his crew Major Lazer brought a world-music mash-up, with electro-grooving openers Yellow Claw and Keys N Krates.

Friday's crowd was made up of lots of boys wearing paper Burger King crowns and warpaint, with scantily-dressed girls in Santa caps and wooly Uggs. Tour security asked everyone to take off their shoes and socks for drug inspection (really), yet, strangely, never checked mouths or pockets. At least the music was cool.

Doing triple duty as Major Lazer DJ, programmer, and principal guy hopping around, Diplo played Harpo Marx to Jillionaire and Walshy Fire, his rapping/yelling Marx Brothers in dancehall-electro. They joked, juked, and ran around when they not busy fueling the furnace of raga-hop tracks like "Light It Up," "Where Are U Now," and bits of "Jah No Partial," with lightning raps and general huffing and puffing. Unlike their albums, there was no room for nuance or softer moments on stage - it was rock steady or go home. By the time rapping Rae Sremmurd (Khalif and Aaquil Brown) joined in with the Major, the blazing affair had become a shirtless man cave - and I say that as a positive thing.

On Friday, DJ/sequencers Dirty South Joe (Philly) and Alison Wonderland (Sydney, Australia) started proceedings with lots of trap house and psychedelic pop-hop, respectively. Amsterdam's Yellow Claw played sinister dubstep with Middle Eastern swipes, but its MC was annoying. Toronto's Keys N Krates were brilliant, though. The live electronic trio, with songs such as "Are We Faded" and the block party's anthem, "High All the Time," made loud jungle music with cello samples, regal house music with repetitive, hammering brass sounds, and sub-bass dub electro, all with deep beats and a delicious sense of melody.