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[REVIEW] Insiders 2009 - Hercules and Love Affair, James Zabiela, Aeroplane
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| Mr Game+Watch |
Well, I attended the Insiders 2009 party hosted by Basic NYC, last night. The show started at 9, I drove in to the city with a friend of mine (not a big EDM fan, but my other friends weren't available for the evening). Made a new mix for the car ride, which I will post on TA soon, it came out pretty decent. Found a parking space like right across the street from the venue, which was nice. There was a restaurant next door with all sorts of offbeat cuisine (i.e. ostrich curry, tacos with crickets as an option), that I went to. Got something fairly basic (peppercorn marinated duck breast), but it was still delicious.
So I was on the Basic NYC guest list, and getting in wasn't a hassle at all. I think it was about 10PM when I arrived. Not very many people on the dancefloor, maybe about 30 or so people at that time. Got there to see Sleepy and Boo DJing. They played a tech-house into big-room techno set, I guess that's the best way to describe it. A few mishaps with regards to the mixing, but overall it was enjoyable. But halfway through their set, these 2 guys and one girl from The Fantastic Nobodies (apparently an artist collective) came on stage (as part of the act), and began changing into all sorts of ridiculous Halloween costumes...
a soldier with a gas mask and a plastic gun, an old man with a giant head and cane, an angel, a horse mask, an Obama mask, etc. It was pretty silly, me and the people in the audience were a bit confused as to what was going on exactly. I have been to tons of EDM shows and never seen anything like this!
Sleepy and Boo were done, and then Aeroplane came on. The place was starting to get pretty full by this point. Aeroplane's set was absolutely amazing. I've been big into nu-disco/italo this past year, and Aeroplane is a pretty well-known name in that scene. The music was pretty much non-stop funk, I couldn't quit dancing. Classixx "I'll Get You" and their remix of Friendly Fires "Paris" being the highlights of their set.
Next up, there was a set change, and Hercules and Love Affair came on. The place was really packed at this point, since it seems most people were hear to see them. I wasn't sure what to expect, having only seen them briefly DJing at Electric Zoo. But they had a ton of singers and dancers on stage, performing a live PA. Honestly, wasn't really my thing, as the singing quality wasn't the greatest. My one friend was complaining how horrible and "gay" it was the whole time, which made things annoying. Yeah, so their show was a bit of a disappointment, and "Blind" was done with a female singer too, which just didn't feel right.
After a really long (30+ min) set change, and like 90% of the people leaving (I guess everyone was there to see Hercules and Love Affair), James Zabiela finally came on. Sadly, Shinichi Osawa (who I was really looking forward to), didn't play. And nobody really made
mention of why not... My biggest disappointment of the show.
This was my first time seeing Zabs, and even as a long-time fan of progressive, I have never really followed him. So I had no idea what he would do, all I am familiar with is his technical expertise. He opened with a dark, crunchy, techy remix of New Order's Confusion (aka the "Blade" song). James was very animated and alive on the decks. Dancing and bouncing around, interacting with the crowd. Did a lot of technical effects, like adding flangers, reverbs, stutters, scratching, robotic voices, etc. Played some dark electro-prog, big room tech, a few breakbeat numbers. Also, an electro/tech remix of "Walking On A Dream" by Empire of the Sun. The highlight of his set for me was definitely D Ramirez/Mark Knight/Underworld's track "Downpipe", I absolutely love it. He played for about an hour and a half, and then looked like he was about to finish. Having a robotic voice saying "Thank You", everyone started clapping... but then he looped the "Thank You" voice, and dropped a beat into an encore song. After the song, the lights came on, and he went up to the crowd, shaking everyone's hand, posing for pictures, etc. Really friendly and cool guy.
Show ended at about 3:30. It was pouring when we got out of there, luckily I was parked right across the street.
So to recap:
+Accessible venue
+Roomy, not too crowded
+Amazing Aeroplane set
+James Zabiela
-No Shinichi Osawa
-Long set changes
-Drinks were a bit pricey ($8 Heineken cans?)
-Hercules and Love Affair live PA |
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| kadomony |
ah man they played I'll Get You and the Paris remix?
NNNNNNNOICE! |
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| MeLLyMeL |
JZ is always awesome and fun and animated. I heard good stuff about this show.
Myra told me there was a guy dressed up with a unicorn thing and a pink wig. I hope someone has pics of that! :wtf:
Sad I had to miss it but school > partying :( |
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