On National DJ Day, get to know our very own Vegas DJ Extraordinaire
DJ Joe Green brings the music and dance to many big time sporting events in Las Vegas. Yes, his job is complicated, surprisingly so, but his name, however, isn’t—DJ Joe Green.
If you have attended a Raiders, Aces or Knights game in the past few years you have likely heard his work. It is DJ Joe Green’s job to set the tone and get ya in the party mood at Allegiant, Mandalay Bay Michelob ULTRA Arena and T-Mobile Arena. His signature third period’s “Jump” from House of Pain is a personal favorite at a Knights game and can be counted on as much as the triple digit temps in Las Vegas during the summer.
Hustling Hard
“I wasn’t like, ‘I am going to be a famous DJ,’ I was just having fun DJing,” says DJ Joe from the table of a local coffee shop. We met to talk about his past, his present and what he hopes to be doing in the future. Specifically in 2024, but more on that later.
Joe was born in Las Vegas, although he spent a lot of time in Chicago. Thus, his love of the Bears and the Bulls. But don’t get it twisted, he is a Golden Knights and Aces fan through and through. He takes pride in raising his son to be a Golden Knights fan – “as if he has a choice,” he says laughing.
Joe spent years working clubs on and off the Strip. While spinning prime playlists, he did stints on radio and Sirius. But he wanted more. “I was on the hunt,” he says.
“I was doing some more ‘quote/unquote’ stalking,” he says while using his hands to gesture the quotes. “I found the person who held the game presentation job for the Knights. I reached out to him and told him everything that I had done,” he says. Before Joe knew it, he had an audition at the NHL Awards and has been working with the Golden Knights since.
Game Music Genres
“Rock music really drives hockey, that is just traditionally what it is. That is versus basketball which is mainly driven by hip-hop.” As for football, he tells me it’s mostly rock but it depends heavily on the team. The Raiders, they want mostly rock – though when you saw them in Oakland it was admittedly more hip-hop. Though Joe’s work with the Raiders ended after their first season – he was just too busy – he prefers the head bop of hip-hop.
“Music wise I like the Aces. I grew up on hip-hop and R&B.” Music like the Fugees, Jay-Z and Eminem would be on repeat for him. His preference of hip-hop tracks, too. When Joe began DJing for the WNBA team he got the thumbs up from the ladies on the court. And not just any Lady Ace would show her admiration. Fellow DJ Liz Cambage gave her approval to Joe’s playlist at the beginning of last season. The WNBA star asked the Aces music manager who was pushing out the music. “That’s DJ Joe Green,” he replied. “He’s really good,” said Liz. High praise from the professional basketball player and sought after DJ. The Aces are pure fun for Joe. “They will dance during warmups and have so much fun – I love working with them,” says Joe.
Pumping Up The Party And The Pride
The Golden Knights and Aces trust Joe’s judgment when it comes to setting the right tone at a game. Creatively it’s liberating, even if it induces stress to the nth degree.
“I stress about it every single day,” he says without hesitation. “You have to make everyone happy,” he continues. “Here in Las Vegas there is a younger crowd who are here to party and there is an older crowd who want to watch hockey.”
Joe takes an enormous amount of pride in his playlists. So much so that he is updating his list on the daily. “I think of a lot of stuff surprisingly in the shower or in my sleep. Every New Music Friday I am on Spotify.” He takes the sports fan’s fun and makes it his job to deliver.
And when he doesn’t he takes it hard. He even admits to sitting in the car post game and going, “Damn, I don’t feel like that went well at all.” Joe says it’s always harder to walk away from a game where the home team took a loss. A game that is NOT on that particular list is the most recent Rangers vs. Knights game. “We were like 5 and 1 playing against the Rangers ‘Sorry Reavo’,” he says with a beaming smile. “That one is one I felt really good about.” Final score aside, the Fortress was on fire that night.
Add that to a series of smiles this local DJ has been able conjure up courtesy of our city. At the top of his most memorable moments is the inaugural season for the Knights. A season that took them to the finals where Joe set the soundtrack. It was a real ‘woah’ moment.
“This is the Stanley Cup Finals and I get to DJ here? Man, this is crazy,” he says. Then immediately adds the fact that there are DJs all around the country who work their entire career and not get to the pinnacle of their sport. He does not lose sight of that, period. “Even though we lost, I still sat there looking at the ice and was like, this is insane!”
Famous Faces At The Fortress
Adding to that insanity are the famous folks that he has had a chance to rub shoulders with. He’s after all feet from the area where celebs come to sound the siren at the top of each period. “Who is the person you have been the most star stuck around?” I ask. Before I can finish the question he says with zero hesitation, “Usher.”
Hearing his excitement retelling the story would make coffee excited. “I wasn’t expecting it,” he says even though he admits he knew Usher would be there, but certainly not available to meet Joe.
“I look over and there is fu*$ing Usher. He had a big smile and we shook hands and hugged. We talked for about five minutes,” he pauses. “Yeah, that was insane,” he says with a smile clearly reliving the moment. Another celeb Joe puts on that list is Shania Twain. Chances are if they have sounded the siren, he’s shaken hands with them. His list includes fellow DJ Tiesto, Fighter Tyson Fury and Daniel Platzman.
On his bucket list is Bruno Mars and Adele. Not a bad idea, Knights. On behalf of the local community, can someone get on that, pretty please?
Super Big Dreams Ahead
With the Las Vegas Raiders, Aces and the Knights to his DJing credit and experiences that rival a Hollywood movie, what is left for Mr. Joe Green? The Super Bowl. Allegiant Stadium is scheduled to host the biggest game in football in 2024.
“I don’t care if I am DJing next to the hot dog guy, I’ve gotta be at the Super Bowl – I have to be there!”
