Concert Review – Cosmic Clearance

By dtownknight Monday May 11, 2009

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Justin Kase threw down the early set, beginning at 5:45. Justin Kase provided what would be background noise for the few people that were in attendance at that point. From the sound of his set, Justin would have been just at home playing later in evening but this time fell curse to the too early set.

Playing to the early crowd Dab and Jam mixed dance versions of ‘Ridin Dirty’ with The Game’s ‘One Blood’. Perched atop a roland setup one half of Dab and Jam kept to spinning, as the other would acted as hypeman, pumping the crowd, even getting off the stage to dance with concert goers. Switching Dj’s mid set multiple times Dab and jam kept the performance fresh, creating the feeling of just getting the party started, over and over again. Dab and Jam really shined when both DJ’s took to spinning together, each tweaking knobs, never stopping the show. Melee displayed the feeling of the crowd best, showing his approval by bouncing along with the music at the back of the stage.

Melee started his set as the sun went down, foregoing the light show, instead moving the crowd through audio inspiration. Manning the same equipment as Dab and Jam, Melee sequenced a sped up performance, contrasting the summer party atmosphere of Dab and Jam’s set. Melee mixed up his set throwing an arsenal of effects on ‘Hey Mickey’ and other tracks.

Adorned in a pink scarf and matching hat Karius Vega spun an eclectic IDM set, pushing the limits of the Subs at the front of the stage . Stationed behind a Macbook, Vega appealed to the crowd, dancing and seeming to be as much a part of the party as the concert goers. As Karius‘ set went on, the crowd began to accumulate, stopping by to take a look on their way into the venue, but never quite making it inside after Karius captured their attention. Coming to a close, Karius broke the song down to kicks and claps, clapping his hands above his head as the crowd joined in.

This is Art brought their live jam to the ever growing crowd, causing most people to look at each other with the ‘This is awesome’ face. The Nashville group was composed of the usual bassist, flute player, and drummer, but added a keyboard player and percussionist to the lineup, giving their live performance an unexpected bang.

“Nashville, What’s Up?” asked one of the twin brothers that make up Nashville group Two Fresh, causing the crowd to respond with united “Woooo!”. Two Fresh kept the crowd in motion banging spaced out versions of cuts from Rich Boy and Three Six Mafia. Nashville came out in full force to suppport it’s home town group, as Two Fresh recreated the house party scene that they cut their teeth on, for the Limelight crowd. Bringing another party to full throttle, Two Fresh proved to be deserving of their recent acclaim.

Serving as the appetizer to Bowie’s main dish, Arock pumped the atmosphere to a level it would remain for the rest of the evening. Arock’s bassist displayed another version of multi-instrumentalism, utilizing a bass guitar and laptop to rock the crowd, as Bowie prepped speakers and cords at the back of the stage throughout the performance.

Bowie

Bowie came to the stage ready to open the crowd up as opposed to close down the outside portion of the event. Manning the stage solo, Bowie puppeteered the crowd, keeping them bouncing till after 1 in the morning. Through Hallucinogen’s set had already started most of the outside concert goers chose to stay rooted to concrete, opting to finish Bowie‘s set over catching the first few minutes of Shpongle.