Photo credit: Jenna Houchin

Longtime EDM artist Deadmau5 has issued an apology following a chaotic and short DJ set at Coachella on Friday night. The artist, whose real name is Joel Zimmerman, was scheduled to go back-to-back with fellow producer ZHU at the festival’s new Quasar stage. However, Stereogum reported the performance was unexpectedly cut short after Zimmerman appeared visibly intoxicated on stage.

In fan-recorded videos circulating online, Deadmau5 can be seen drinking heavily, stumbling and spraying Silly String on ZHU mid-performance. At one point, he took the mic and said to the crowd, “They were actually like, ‘That’s it!’” referring to the abrupt end of the set.

Shortly after the event, Deadmau5 took to Instagram to acknowledge the mishap. He shared a photo of a water bottle with the caption, “I don’t remember a thing. But I don’t think I had a cig? So… that’s good I guess? Going back to bed. Wake me up around Thursday ish.” In the comments, he candidly added, “Probably my last Coachella.”

Later in the day, Zimmerman posted a picture of his cat, adding some levity while also reflecting on the night. 

“Man, even my cat is disappointed in me. Tho, it could be argued that she always has been. Sorry about last night. Lol.” He continued, “Huge shout out to @zhu for introducing me to whisky and carrying my dumb ass till the bitter end. Lemme quit smoking, do some fucken personal resetting here at home, find my spirit animal, work on some new music, and come back better.”

On another note, Deadmau5 will continue to perform at other music festivals over the summer such as Somewhere Festival & Conference and Elements Music & Arts Festival.