Nastinos

So, a few week’s ago we went to pull some shapes to Belgium’s finest tuxedo wearing DJs 2 Many Djs. For the unfamiliar amongst you, check out my lowdown on the chaps here. My live review is quite heavy on the youtube video’s but such was the nature of their set up I didn’t think I could do them justice without these! (PS, thanks to the users who posted these videos!)

image from Brixton academy show on the tour

So, we packed our bags, ticked off our checklist (tickets – check, dancing shoes – check) and Clio-ed our way across the pennines where 2 Many Djs were playing The Manchester Academy (Saturday 6th June 2009). On the way, we passed signs for the Oasis ’supergig’ which was taking part at Heaton Park in the city the same night, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the 70′000 poor buggers who were going to be stuck there instead of the 2 Many Djs gig!

The support on the night came in the form of JDH & Dave P, Zombie Nation (of kernkraft 400 fame), and Riton. We arrived part way through Zombie Nation’s set and he was warming the already large crowd up nicely for the main event. Riton too was laying down some nice beats to get the crowd going but to be honest, we were using this time to top up our alcohol levels before the brothers from Belgium hit the decks. And so it came time for 2 Many Djs to enter the fray, and they did so dressed in tuxedos which left me wondering if they got them dry-cleaned after every show?

I had heard beforehand that this tour was to include a brand new visual aspect from the guys, and that came in the form of a big screen directly behind them which was displaying animations based on the original art works of the tracks they were sampling. This vj-ing was a great addition to the their live performance, the simplistic yet clever use of artwork mashup complimenting the tracks the guys were spinning.

The set started in blistering fashion with the soulwax remix of The Chemical Brothers’ Hey Girl, Hey Boy (youtube link). A subtle change to the lyrics superbly set the scene for what was to come: “Hey girl, Hey boy, 2 many djs, here we go!” And go they did, at around 1m30 into the track the powerful fuzzy bass line kicks in and resonates through your body, it was at this time when the screen lit up and the crowd went ker-ay-zee!

The Chemical Bros. gave way to the popular soulwax edit of The Gossip’s Standing in the Way of Control and again, this went down a treat. Check out the youtube vid for how the manipulated the artwork for this one. (Video is actually from the Brixton Academy show on the tour.)

You can see towards the end of the vid how, instead of dropping in a an audio sample of the next track, they drop in the visuals to stir crowd. The track following on from this was David Guetta’s “Jack is Back” which merged into Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers which was recieved well with it being the buzz track of the moment.

By this time, I was starting to get a sweat on but there was no sign on the pace slowing, the guys blasted through some top mixes just like you’d expect, amongst the one I recognised (yes, pretending to know stuff about music will only get me so far, there was a good mixture of tunes that were news to me!) were Zombie Nation, Eurythmics, Mr. Oizo, Depeche Mode and Deadmau5 but going down particularly well was the remix of MGMT’s Kids (stream below).

At the three quarter stage I was sweating and my ankles had taken a pounding from my uncontrollable springing, but they raised the bar once more with my personal 3 highlights coming in the latter parts of the set.

To my delight they dropped in a mix of Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker, and using all their audio visual skills mixed the sound and the visual’s in with Major Lazor’s Pon di Floor:

Just when I was wondering if they had another level to get to the got the crowd in full rave mode with The Prodigy’s Out of Space, this time the art work oscillating between Prodigy’s own and their logo for the upcoming online streaming site Radio Soulwax. (video from Brixton Academy show on the tour)

They saved possibly my favourite visual for the night til near the end, and even better than that, it accompanied one of my favourite tunes of the passed few years. Here is the original artwork for Justice’s Phantom:

And below is what they managed to turn it into, genius! (And yes, I’m aware it’s Phantom pt. 2!)

I’ll be honest, the end of the set is a bit of a haze, i’m not sure how it went down but I do think that it wasn’t as strong a finish as I they could have put in, of great disappointment was the fact they didn’t come back out for an encore despite the chants from the sold out crowd. On reflection, the show they didn’t need an encore, they had already wowed the crowd and indeed our group which included myself who had not seen 2 many djs since Leeds Festival 2004, and then 5 handsome folk who had never seen them before.

By the way, the songs referenced were in the approximate order played, but probably not exactly, I had had a few double whiskeys before the set and that stuff ain’t exactly memory juice!

MGMT – Kids (Soulwax Edit)