https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI8h9quPoXQ
(Video by: Christina Vessa).
The First Bank Center was an epicenter of extremes Friday night. Extremely loud bass. Extremely revealing outfits. Extremely intoxicated high schoolers. And for this reporter, an extremely interesting Saturday night.
The line-up was several members of the Safe in Sound tour. Unfortunately, the bigger names of the electronic dance music, or EDM, world weren’t there; Zeds Dead, Datsik, Flux Pavillion and Excision all didn’t perform. That’s not to say that the crew that was there didn’t put on a strong show.
We arrived at 9:30, about halfway through Bro Safari’s set. Bro Safari was a two-man, which was mildly amusing considering that Wikipedia lists Nicholas Weiller as the only member of the act. Either way, the one I’m assuming was Weiller DJed the set, while his partner served the role of pumping up the crowd. Weiller played a decent variety of dub step, trap and drum and bass. It was accompanied by intense animations of his logo, which is a man who can best be described as a mentally unstable accountant.
Next up was Zomboy, a DJ of a similar style who favored the heavy dub step drops and not nearly as upbeat, jump-around vibe of Bro Safari. He also mixed in many variations of his logo as well, a zombie with the with the look of a plastic toy. Zomboy was a one-man show, and that one man is named Joshua Mellody. Mellody was the most animated performer of the night, dancing around and getting the most into his music out of any of the artists there.
The final act of the night was Nero, for whom the event staff supplied with two extra screens and a microphone. The trio of Daniel Stephens, Joe Ray and Alana Watson were all in attendance, and they were the only group to provide live vocals, with Watson providing them on several tracks. Nero also put on the most impressive lightshow of the night. The crew put out several extra spotlights for Nero’s set to go along with the additional screens, as well as pumping out much more smoke and mist then any other of the other performers. It was a strong headliner set: a little extra in the way of show aethestics. Nero played some of their biggest tracks, notably ‘Satisfy’ and ‘Promises.’
It was a good balance of music, hitting many subgenres of the EDM cloud: Bro Safari with the good vibes and heavy drops, Zomboy with the darker EDM and intense bass lines and Nero ended things by mixing it up with a style best described electro funk. It wasn’t the most unique show, but it was more than entertaining and a fun way to spend my Saturday night.
Collegian Reporter Luke Scriffiny can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter at @lscriffiny.
