Bright & Shiny had invaded everywhere from Miami to Ibiza, but never New York City. I guess it was about time considering we're based out of Washington, DC. Let me tell you, both Electric Zoo and the city that never sleeps absolutely did not disappoint. In fact, it was so awe-inspiring and mind-crushing that we've had to take two days off to adequately process what we went through. Let's dissect day 1.
Afrojack
We arrived a little late to the festivities (had to adequately "prepare"), but managed to make it to Afrojack about halfway through his set. As was to be expected, he was bringing the dirty dutch destruction straight to NYC. What a great way to start off the weekend. He finished the set off by dropping his remix of "Whatcha Say".
Fake Blood
We dipped out after Afrojack to check out Fake Blood. He completely killed shit at Ultra last year, so we figured it'd be the same story here. He was doing some cool stuff, really tech-housey and groovy (he dropped Lemonade out of nowhere, which is always wonderful), but we decided to leave a bit early to get good seats for Chuckie.
Pete Tong
When we got there, Pete Tong was still on the decks finishing up, which was cool and all 'cause he's a certified legend. He finished up with an old school ass remix of the house classic "Your Love," which was straight bad ass.
Chuckie
I'm not really sure how to describe what happened during Chuckies hour-and-a-half long reign over the Hilltop Arena, but one word that comes to mind immediately is legendary. It started when he walked up during the end of Pete Tong's set and literally began dusting off his instruments with a small brush. After preparing his tools for the clinically structured mass murder he was about to commit, he made sure there would be no confusion about who would be responsible;
He then relentlessly assaulted the tent with an onslaught of dirty dutch that culminated with a mashup between "Where's Your Head At" and "Warp 1.9" where he literally made everyone in the tent get on the ground before the music dropped (look for the Bright & Shiny crew front row with my man jimbro in the pink hat)
For the record, anyone who was there and didn't get on the ground is a jokeshow, even the dude with crutches got on the ground...
Dirty Dutch Wynter Gordon
Anyway, Chuckie was a monster, absolutely incredible. We were literally run ragged by the man; the most I could do afterward was sit down and drink about 4 bottles of water before I could move again after that thrashing. One of the greatest sets I've ever had the privilege of seeing.
(by the way none of those videos are mine, props to the owners for recording that madness)
Benny Benassi
When we were finally able to move again, we split up. Half of us went to Benny Benassi, while the other half hit up Axwell. I only saw Benny, so that's all I can post about right now, but Patrick saw Axwell and will talk tommorow about how he dropped Swedish House Mafia tracks everywhere and generally wrecked shit. Benny's set, as was to be expected, had a pulsing, pumping electro-clash feel to it that kept the crowd rocking the entire time. He prefers to spin a bit slower than most other house DJs, but drops the nu-rave electro in a subtle, more artistically deliberate way. Just like at Ultra, he dropped his remix of "Purple Haze". I feel like that's the perfect song possible to drop at a dance festival, because dance music is evolving now like rock n' roll was during the 60's, so in a sense it's a subtle tribute to Woodstock and other music festivals in the 60's that set the precedent for what goes on today.
He also dropped a dope remix of Otherside by RHCP
The Chemical Brothers
Check in tomorrow for a full examination of the Chemical Brothers' epic performance, because it was straight mythical; anything short of it's own post wouldn't do it justice. All I can say for now is that it was unquestionably on par with Daft Punk's "Alive 2007".
Extra Credit
We were chillin' at some rooftop party the second night (yes, i know this post is about day 1, but I felt compelled to add this song) and at about 530 am this joker on the decks dropped a doors remix out of nowhere, which was completely uncalled for and basically the coolest shit I had heard all weekend.
More about the rooftop party in the day 2 review though.
p.s. Best In Class (Soulwax Remix) was officially released today, go buy that shit.
.Augustus
[UPDATE 3.0: Chemical tunes n remixes available at bottom]
