A nearly vocal-free Abe Vigoda performed at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom on Monday. Photo by .
I feel I should start this review by saying that within 30 minutes of entering for the show on Monday night, I was offered extacy… by a dude in a tie-dye T-shirt with dreads who reeked of patchouilli. “This has to be a set-up,” I thought. There’s no way a stereotypical “hippie” man would offer to sell me hallucinogenic drugs in a place decorated with scenes from Alice in Wonderland. But as I learned once Diplo came out for a rave-like set, it probably was a legitimate attempt at a drug deal.
Opener set was boring and over-extended, the UK club DJ showing nothing unique in his craft. The much-hyped Brooklyn vibration givers were next, and while it took me a few songs to get into their live sound, I found them as pleasant as their ambient and heavy recordings. The trio suffered at the hands of a terrible sound quality, but battled it willfully with smiles and humor.
was the shining L.A. star of the evening, their positivity coming through in waves of distorted tropical sunshine. The sound quality continued to disintegrate as the foursome pushed through tracks like “Dead City Waste Wilderness” and “Skeleton,” the band becoming visibly irritated with their lack of vocal amplification. Vigoda’s stage energy was manic and wiry, main vocalist Michael Vidal toppling the microphone and quickly pulling back while guitarist/vocalist Juan Velazquez and bassist/vocalist David Reichardt twisted and jerked around in their own worlds.
As their set came to an end, the frustration with the crappy sound peaked, and Velazquez shoved his guitar and microphone into the amp, falling to the floor as he forced out the squealing sounds. Reichardt and drummer Reggie Guerrero left the stage, and Vidal began screaming in horror at his fallen band mate. And with that, the other half of Vigoda left the stage.
Diplo’s (a.k.a Wesley Pentz’s) rig was too tall for the stage, so it was placed on the floor with several LED lighting groups placed about the venue. As the lights flashed, Diplo dropped mixes of MIA’s “XR2,” and Kanye West’s “Stronger,” among dozens of other clips for a fairly lackluster set. I was confused by Pentz’s purpose; the show felt like a half-rave (complete with furry-booted concert-goers), but just as the crowd would get into a groove, he would stop a song and shout out to the crowd.
Maybe I was put-off by the people around me, who were more concerned with finding and doing their drugs than dancing, standing like stoned statues in my personal space. But if Diplo’s set was more consistent and exciting, I don’t think I would have noticed the fools who wasted 20 bucks to smoke weed in public. Where was the P.L.U.R., Diplo?
is a Denver writer and regular Reverb contributor. Check out her and .
is a Denver photographer and regular Reverb contributor.
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