And the Bass drops…
“Hey man, do you have an extra face?” he asked with the swagger of bumming a cigarette. Caught off guard by the odd request, “what?” was all I could muster.
“An extra face, man. Mine just melted off at the DatsiK show!”
While Monday is not a traditional going out night, DatsiK’s performance at The Varsity Theater brought out a diverse and rowdy crowd that could be seen covered in glow sticks from blocks away. The frat boys, hippies, ravers, first-timers, long-timers, and many a shade of gray all converged on the venue in pursuit of one common goal—more bass. With 50,000 watts of extra speakers in tow, the Firepower Tour brought all the wobbles a human body can handle.
The show included three openers from DatsiK’s Firepower record label, Delta heavy, Bare Noize, and AFK. While Bare Noize and AFK’s sets were nothing revolutionary, drawing largely from other artists tracks with a number of hitches and slow intro sections, Delta heavy built the crowd up into a frenzy in preparation for the headlining act. The building energy throughout the night was fueled by The Varsity’s signature random beer special, and by the time DatsiK came on, “wall-flowers” had become a dying species.
While the openers played on a simple VDJ rig with a projection screen sitting static beside them, the show became visually spectacular when DatsiK took the stage and started up his new “Vortex” stage setup. The “Vortex” consists of a white wooden cone with a small DJ space at the bass of the cone. Shaped to look like a giant speaker, DatsiK stood at the bass of the cone as VJ Jesse Nikette produced music-responsive visuals that surrounded and encompassed the performer as he took the crowd on a sensory voyage.
Bass-front property in the Varsity offered speakers that were pumping out enough air to nearly cool the ragers, and DatsiK’s signature dark dubstep echoed out to fill the cool night air. The headlining set was full of classic gems like the 85bpm banger, Southpaw, remixes of newer songs like his Deviance collaboration with fellow artist Excision, and even some unreleased tracks. As seems to be the direction of American Bass music, trap anthems like Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” and Major Lazer’s “Original Don” transitioned heavy hitters and filled the air with sensory blasts that vibrated to the core of the concert goers.
DatsiK’s show brought a more aggressive crowd than most electronic shows tend to, with a night interspersed with mosh pits getting wild for the heavy drops throughout the night. The male-dominated crowd had the feeling of a punk show as the high energy of the night offered more fans head-banging and jumping than grinding, and flying elbows caught many an unsuspecting bystander.
The high energy and heavy bass made for a solid start to a week of touring electronic shows descending upon Baton Rouge. For a more EDM night of legwarmers and house music, Wolfgang Gartner will be playing at The Varsity Theater the night of Thursday the 27th. For an orgiastic bass ritual, Saturday night at the River Center will bring Bassnectar back to Baton Rouge for the first time in almost two years. Electronic music is filled with experience-based genres. Get out there and find your favorite.
