Chainsmokers light up the night before NASCAR race

Unlike Friday night at 400 Fest, Saturday's performers embraced the first-time event's connection to this weekend's NASCAR race.

Joe Jonas wore a Dale Earnhardt Jr. T-shirt when performing with his pop band DNCE.

Derek Smith, otherwise known as DJ/producer Pretty Lights, played a sample of John Bonham's drumming on "When the Levee Breaks" and then speculated the members of Led Zeppelin were NASCAR fans.

And Alex Pall, one-half of the headlining Chainsmokers, urged audience members to shout "Jeff Gordon" if they were having a good time.

Thanks to a social-media post, we know Gordon — the five-time Brickyard 400 champ who retired in 2015 — caught the 400 Fest finale from backstage.

Created in hopes of bringing energy to the sagging reputation of this weekend's NASCAR race at the track, 400 Fest attracted an estimated audience of 8,000 on Saturday. An estimated audience of 5,000 came out on Friday, leaving ample room to grow when compared to the 30,000 who attend the annual Indy 500 Snake Pit (an event similarly built on electronic dance music).

With the Chainsmokers (Pall and DJ/producer/vocalist Andrew Taggart), event organizers brought one of the biggest music acts of the moment to the track.

The duo's collaboration with Coldplay, "Something Just Like This," is one of the songs of the summer. It features the signature Chainsmokers production style: gauzy sonic textures and elastic keyboard tones. On songs that don't feature Chris Martin, Taggart supplies limited-range vocals.

The sound arrived Saturday on hits "Roses," "All We Know," "Paris," current single "Honest" and international chart-topper "Closer."

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The show at times resembled an exercise in filling gaps between the hits. Pall and Taggart showed little imagination when calling on "Rock and Roll All Nite" by Kiss and Queen's "We Will Rock You."

In a more inspired gesture, the Chainsmokers dedicated Linkin Park's "Faint" to Chester Bennington — the vocalist who died Thursday.

400 Fest also revealed more about the Chainsmokers' connection to Indiana native Rory Kramer. A videographer who travels with pop stars on tour, Kramer brought the Chainsmokers and Justin Bieber to small nightclub the Venue in Angola (45 miles north of Fort Wayne) in recent years.

Taggart invited Kramer to the front of the stage for a round of Hoosier applause.

Earlier, Pretty Lights delivered a relatively subdued set built on blues and soul samples. And when Smith employed Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Steve Miller Band songs, he connected the dots between old-school blues and the style's influence on rock stars in the '60s and '70s.

DNCE was far from subdued when performing high-energy covers of songs popularized by TLC ("No Scrubs"), the Spice Girls ("Wannabe") and Britney Spears ("Oops! ... I Did It Again"). Credit Jonas for DNCE's "Cake by the Ocean," one of the best post-boy band songs of all time.

Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.