It was dark and stormy night.
Alright, so that's not entirely true. It was definitely night (Tuesday, February 23rd to be exact), therefore it was also dark, but last time I checked a light drizzle in 30-something degrees doesn't constitute a storm in Chicago. Anyway...
It was a dark and cold night. A small venue known for hosting mostly indie-rock bands opened its doors to maybe five or six dozen hipsters and the like who packed The Empty Bottle's dance floor, anxiously waiting for the first notes of a live set from French DJ Vitalic. The crowd was comprised of a dude to chick ratio of at least 3:1; even then, it seemed like most of the girls that were there had been dragged there by their boyfriends. A good amount of the crowd seemed to be long time fans of the man lesser known as Pascal Arbez; even a few Frenchies were in attendance. Some of the "heads" stood quietly in the back, soaking in every note, while some joined the party in the front row, jumping up and down with the best of them. (I should say "the best of us," since I was in the midst of the electronic music version of moshing, which is like the Lutheran version of spicy food.) The rest of the crowd seemed to be people who maybe frequent The Empty Bottle and decided to check out whoever the venue had booked on a Tuesday night in February -- it's always my optimistic hope that at any of these shows a few eyes are opened, some new fans are made. :)
Vitalic started his set a bit earlier than I expected, sometime after 11:30pm. Shortly into his set, technical difficulties reared its ugly head and the sound cut completely. After less than a minute of obligatory wooo!'s from the crowd to fill the void of sound from the stage, he was back up and running. He went right back into his set, filling the bar with the familiar sounds of synth and disco. Navigating his way through a steady, driving set, making sure to showcase the tracks from his newest album "Flashmob," by about 1:00 am he wrapped things up and made a quick, discrete exit from the venue. Although I was saddened by the length of the set, that remains my only complaint from the night -- I simply wanted more. Vitalic was relentless throughout the entirety of his set, pounding out track after track showing no signs of stopping, leaving the crowd with sore feet and big grins painted across their faces. With his head down and only showing the hint of a smile occasionally throughout his performance, he seemed shy if not a little awkward -- definitely not the hands-in-the-air point to the sky DJ, nor the pretentious techno rockstar DJ. For a guy used to much, much larger crowds across the pond, he seemed to be genuinely pleased with the Chicago crowd's gusto. All in all, I'm glad I made the trip to the windy city, and although unlikely, I would be love to see Vitalic again.
a quick video i took of "poison lips"
another video from moi
this guy's video is much better than mine are :)
Take note of the makeshift Vitalic logo on the laptop on the photo above. With the flash, you can't really tell, but with the clever placement of some electrical tape, the familiar apple logo became a glowing white V in the darkness.
No comments:
Post a Comment