Last Saturday I attended a pre-grammy party for the EDM nominees. The DJs chosen to DJ at a party celebrating the best DJs? None other than JFK from MSTRKRFT and Wolfgang Gartner. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that only 150 tickets were given out, so this would be the first of 4 times seeing Wolfgang in a more personal setting. I was literally 2 feet away from the DJ booth the entire night with room to actually dance! I also must comment on the Roxbury itself, being such a new club (opened on January 14th) and already boasting a stellar DJ lineup (Tatiana Fontes & Erick Morillo spun the previous weekend). The decor is absolutely beautiful with vines and back-lit french phrases lining the walls giving an outdoorsy feel. The crowd was also much different than the usual "raver-scene". These were the Hollywood regulars you see frequenting trendy clubs such as Teddy's and Bar Marmont. Now let's get to the MUSIC!
JFK blew me away. I've never seen MSTRKRFT before and to be honest, really don't know much about the Canadian duo. More popular for their remixes than their own productions, I was expecting to hear some Justice and Kylie Minogue. However, JFK was not messing around. He came to Roxbury to put the filth back in house music. Song after (unidentifed) song, the entire club started feeling their drinks as heads were bobbin' everywhere. I just couldn't stop dancing, even in my heels (which ended up sucking for my feet hours later). Towards the end of his set people started rushing up to the front in preparation for the legend that is Wolgang.
Let's rewind. I first saw
Wolfgang Gartner in early August at Avalon. I had never heard of him before but was astounded by what I was told when I asked about him so I decided to see what the hype was about. So impressed with that set, I purchased tickets to see him in San Diego on Halloween. Again, totally electrifying. Then for my third time, I brought in the new year at Together As One with my boy Wolfie. All three performances brought his signature sound that is clearly heard in
Wolfgang's 5th Symphony,
Undertaker,
Space Junk, and my favorite
Illmerica. With all of these groundbreaking performances under his belt, I was sure this was going to be his best show of all.
I was sadly mistaken. Apparently he decided that since he was playing in a small Hollywood club, he should play the generic top 40 crap that you might typically hear. The most disappointing of all was looking around at all the drunk kids dancing on their tables, swinging around their grey goose bottles, thinking that the Usher remix was a Wolfgang original. After the epic show that JFK had just put on, this was child's play. I ended up leaving early with a bad taste in my mouth. Sorry Wolfgang but no fooling me - save the pop for kissfm.
