Deadmau5 ‘sorry’ after being escorted drunk from DJ set: ‘Probably my last Coachella show’

Joel Zimmerman, best known by his DJ name Deadmau5, has apologized on social media after reportedly getting too drunk to finish his own set at this weekend’s Coachella Festival.

Zimmerman, 44, was performing under his alternate alias Testpilot alongside fellow electronic music producer Steven Zhu, 35, best known as Zhu.

According to reports from the festival, their joint set was cut short after Zimmerman began slurring and falling over. He eventually had to be escorted off stage.

In a social media post from his Deadmau5 Instagram account the following day, the DJ, who recently quit smoking, wrote alongside a photograph of an unopened bottle of water: “I dont 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.”

He added: “Probably my last coachella show.”

In another post the following day, next to a photograph of his cat, he wrote: “Man, even my cat is disappointed in me. Tho, it could be argued that she always has been.

“sorry about last night. Lol. TO BE FAIR, I felt the first 3/4 was great! Huge shout out to [Zhu] for introducing me to whisky and carrying my dumb ass till the bitter end.

“lemme quit smoking, do some f***en personal resetting here at home, find my spirit animal, work on some new music, and come back better. ;)”

Elsewhere at the festival, Lady Gaga’s headline set was widely praised, with one fan writing on social media that just watching the elaborate set being built was “like being there when the pyramids of Giza were built.”

During the first weekend, Benson Boone brought out surprise guest Brian May of Queen as he covered “Bohemian Rhapsody” in suitably epic fashion.

However, some attendees who arrived early at this year’s festival complained about long queues and a lack of facilities, branding the experience of turning up at Coachella as “worse than Fyre Festival.”

Some fans who stayed home voiced their gratitude for the music festival’s free live-stream after learning of the off-the-charts prices for tickets and concessions.

Tickets for this year’s edition started at $649 for the first weekend but were slightly lower for the second at $599. Those General Admission passes grant attendees access to the festival grounds for all three days. These prices don’t include the cost of camping, transportation to the festival grounds, or food.

VIP tickets, meanwhile, cost upwards of $1,199.