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[Review] Eddie Halliwell @ Webster Hall 4/21
First of all I have to say that Christopher Lawrence not coming was a huge dissapointment. So instead of Lawrence playing from 10pm-1am, it was some pretty crappy opener, who laid down some sick tech house tracks, but couldnt mix for the life of him. Eddie came on at around 1:30 or 1:45 and played till about 4:15; pretty short set IMO. However, his set was still amazing, full non-stop energy with a lot of Eddie's essential mixing tricks.
Highlights of the night:
Needs to feel
Smile
Constellation
Lethal Industry (Eddie did the longest build up of all time)
...some others I cannot remember for the moment.
Webster hall's top floor def has potential to become one of the top mega clubs again. Its basically looks like a smaller version of Roseland. Pretty big room, possibly bigger than Pacha's main floor. They had a huge 6 panel video screen behind the DJ set up and supprisingly had a small laser set up, it was kinda eh, but whatever its still lasers. Also, the sound was way too bright, definetily tweaked more towards a rock concert instead of a club setting, my ears are currently still ringing.
The only drawback to the night was that absolutely no one showed up to this event. It was probably max half full right as Eddie stepped on, but I may be generous in my estimation. The crowd definetily effected Eddie's performance, as I am sure he is used to playing to packed crowds over in Europe. He definetily did not give it his all. He also did not close out the night, giving the floor back to the crappy opening DJ, who played some extremely sleep inducing house. Truthfully, you cannot transition from such a high energy set like Eddie's to house music, it totally killed the vibe and energy.
What really bugged me was that Eddie did not even acknowledge that he was ending his set, he simply let his last track play on, then the opening DJ started setting up again, Eddie stared at him for 2 minutes basically looking down on his inferior mixing skills (be it that the opening DJ was crappy, it really shows that Eddie has a shitty ego), then he just took off without waving to the crowd or anything.
Sure, it sucks playing for an empty crowd, but at least acknowledge the few fans you had out there tonight...He left even a worse impression on me when I saw him outside and I went to just express my gratitude for his high energy set. I basically said "Eddie" (he turns around) "Thanks for the great set" (shake his hand) but he fails to even utter one word to me, just basically sighing/sort of growling in response and basically giving me the cold shoulder. Given that it was a shitty turnout, he didn't have to act like a dick. I'm not sure if he is just a social retard, but i suspect that his superstar ego may have come into play. Even when Andy Moor played to an even emptier crowd at Duvet, he still waited after the show and spoke personably to the few fans that wanted to meet him afterwords. I remember Moor saying that he doesnt care about the crowd turnout as long as their is a core group of devoted fans that truly enjoy his set. Andy Moor = classy gent, Eddie Halliwell = douche.
Douchebaggery aside, Eddie still killed it. And I can't really complain because for some reason my friend and I got in for free. I would definetily be down to see Eddie again, but his ego still irks me. Basically, his booking agent or whoever he is working with messed up big time. If he wants to guaruntee a sell-out crowd, he should hook up with Made Events, who would most likely choose a better venue and time to showcase his talent. Also, playing the day after Ferry and on the same day as Morillo's 18 hour bday bash, is not a wise idea. With this crappy turn out in addition to the turn out at Crobar, I highly doubt that Eddie would ever return to NYC.
Also, the people that showed up for Eddie made up a decent crowd, there were just not enough of them. The lobby floor consists of mostly 70's-80's music, which is hilarious because the crowd is definetily older, like around the same age as the wonderful members of the "Pacha/Crobar Asian Train." But hey, who am I to take away from their fun. The bottom floor is Hip-hop, and I walked down there just to go to the bathroom and it wreaked of raw sex. I almost threw up in my mouth a little after taking a whiff of that stench. All in all, I really hope Eddie comes back because I would like to see him play to a huge capacity crowd, I feel as though he would feed off that energy and unleash a truly memorable set.
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