Anton “Zedd” Zaslavski played to a sold out crowd at the Wells Fargo Center in the opening ceremony for the Overwatch League Season 2 Grand Finals, and the performance was considered a rousing success.
Zedd is known for his big hits like “The Middle” and “Stay”, and he performed his latest song “Good Thing” live on the OWL stage with singer, dancer, and songwriter Kehlani. Zedd stepped away from the DJ turntables and sat down to perform at a drum set while Kehlani provided the song’s vocals.
Fans were much happier with this year’s entertainment than they were at the inaugural season’s grand finals event, which played host to DJ Kahled. That performance was highly criticized. DJ Kahled seemed unsure of his audience and repeatedly made unanswered requests for his lyrics to be shouted back at him. When Kahled cut the music, an echo of laughter rang through instead of the lyrics from his songs.
This year, fans were on their feet, dancing, and singing. Even though Zedd kept his music flowing, the crowd could be heard reciting the lyrics back to him. Special wristbands were kept high in the air while fans danced to the music.
Not only is Zedd an award-winning artist, he’s also a big OWL fan who plays a lot of Overwatch, loves the game, and supports the league competition. He has even streamed playing games with some of the OWL’s pro players.
His love for the game hasn’t gone unnoticed by Overwatch fans. The reaction when the news broke that he would be playing at the OWL Grand Finals was overwhelmingly positive, a dramatic change from last year.
At the beginning of his set, up on the big screen, an image of a Widowmaker skin that fans hadn’t seen before appeared featuring Zedd’s logo. The color scheme is blue and pink, with the Z logo and his full Zedd logo featured on the sniper rifle. On Widowmaker’s back is the Z logo, instead of her usual spider tattoo.
When asked if the Zedd skin was going to be made available in-game, OWL officials declined to comment.
