Concert Reviews

crowd/vibes: far too many 21 year olds, no one was really locked in, lots of chit chatting (understandable because it was kinda boring). Lots of non-SF people... I was worried that all of this would be the case for the NYE warehouse shows but all those crowds were 10/10! but also football is the polar opposite from my culture

mixing: diplo was really bad, most of the transitions were super rough (this is where i would say, i think i could dj better LOL). calvin was fine at best. really surprising since they've been doing this for decades

track selection & flow: diplo played some remixes of songs that were worse than the original versions of the songs i thought. in general was alllll over the place with genres, the next song felt completely random (derogatory). same with calvin harris, like you can't play a 2016 radio hit and then switch into techno for 3 minutes out of the blue without easing the crowd in! i got no story/vision/journey, it was giving shuffle. it did feel like they were catering to the crowd but you can still read the room and do a job at it...

production: also too much in a bad way, too bright and too many lasers for too long that like it felt in my mind what a vegas club is like, the lighting also felt like it didn't contribute to the flow or add any tension, and it was maxxed out most of the time instead of being saved to use intentionally

overall: diplo 2/10, calvin harris 3/10

compare this to like, in recent memory for me, fred again 10/10 or four tet 9/10 where everything feels so much more cohesive and intentional, they can play the most left field song next but it somehow works, there's an overarching story that ebbs and flows in a good way, and the lighting adds to that