Laidback Luke performs in Elkton, Md.

Students and other concertgoers dressed head-to-toe in bright neon swarmed the concert barricades as Dutch DJ Laidback Luke played a 100-minute set at Club Pulse in Elkton, Md., Friday night.

Laidback Luke, whose real name is Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen, performed in Maryland as part of his international “Speak Up” tour. Van Scheppingen, known for dance and house music remixes, stated in an email message that he realized his passion at an early age but couldn’t play instruments as well as the rest of his musically talented family.

“When I was 15 years old, I found out I could make music with the help of a computer,” van Scheppingen says. “It was then I realized I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.”

Discovered and heavily influenced by house producer duo Chocolat Puma, van Scheppingen began his career in 1992, when he says the electronic dance music scene was still growing. House music has only recently achieved popularity on mainstream American radio stations, he says.

“I’m glad it finally happened in the U.S.,” van Scheppingen says. “I feel a lot of it had to do with people like Will.I.Am who discovered he loved it, and David Guetta crossing over that hard.”

Artists like Daft Punk and Timbaland also played a role in forming van Scheppingen’s musical tastes, but Swedish House Mafia and Steve Angello showed him how to produce tracks, he says. Since 1998, he has released more than 30 singles and remixed tracks like “Rain Over Me” by Pitbull featuring Marc Anthony and “Better Off Alone” by Alice DeeJay.

Junior Rachel Rockefeller says “Turbulance,” one of van Scheppingen’s singles featuring Steve Aoki and Lil’ Jon, was a crowd favorite during Friday’s performance.

“It was really exciting and upbeat, with lots of lights,” Rockefeller says.

Van Scheppingen says he has kept busy with remix projects and completed eight remixes in the last three weeks.

“What I always look for in an original [song] are elements that are really my taste and that would work great in my sets,” he says. “I take those elements and add my touch to it and that often works out really well for me.”

Senior Mark Greenstein says this was the first concert he attended with friends from the university and that the majority of the audience was students.

“There were a good amount of people, and it was a good open area,” Greenstein says. “There were good vibes from everyone.”

Rockefeller says van Scheppingen was not overly interactive with the crowd and stood behind his turntable dancing for most of the concert.

“But he fed off the energy of the crowd,” she says. “I would definitely go again if he came back next year.”

Van Scheppingen says he tends to play more complex and obscure music overseas compared to his stateside shows, but he is excited to perform in America as well.

“The energy and the response in the U.S. is addicting,” he says. “It’s all so fresh and new—it’s a pleasure to play in the U.S.”