Bassnectar live at the Wellmont Theatre Montclair, NJ 11/16/2012
Bassnectar is an artist who claims to do all that he can to set up the most ideal scenario for his fans – aiming to create an environment to freely enjoy music, “wile out”, and meet not necessarily “like-minded” individuals but instead, an array of bass lovers from every end of the spectrum. He does this by personally choosing venues, encouraging expression via costume, glow toys, posters, art, and makeshift “rage poles”, and most importantly dropping the perfect rager at the most appropriate time forcing the entire crowd to ooze in satisfaction and blow up in unanimity – “womping”, grinding, head banging, and booty shakin’ away.
This dedication was embodied in every form at his show at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ. The venue was spectacular! Entry was easy in that lines moved quickly, searches were light, and staff was polite and helpful. The theatre itself was beautiful and ornate. Despite radical changes like the removal of seats in the lower level to create an appropriate standing room, its 1922 character was well maintained. Ceiling embellishments of floral designs and gold leaf remained a beautiful contribution to the vibes of the concert.
Speaking of vibes… Gladkill was first on the set list for the night. Describing his tunes as “love-step”, he knows how to infuse a crowd with soulful, melodic, and dance worthy beats for listeners to get a little close and personal. Gladkill played an official STS9 after party at the Gramercy Theatre in NYC in October of 2011. Here, I first learned of this noteworthy DJ who immediately instilled me with sensations similar to my first Bassnectar experience. To open for Bassnectar is an incredible feat – the only downside being that he inevitably had less of an audience because it was so early in the night. It would have been interesting if Gladkill had closed out Bassnectar’s set for the stragglers who haven’t gotten enough groovin’ in, rather than waste his talents on a half-filled theatre. (Note: Clearly, I’m still sour about missing the set).
Next, was groove struttin’ Gramatik featuring guitarist Eric Mendelson. Gramatik composes songs that exude funky with tracks like “Break Loose” and recent hints of “womp” surfacing in his newest album Digital Freedom and collaborations with Griz. The crowd conglomerated into a swarm of fists in the air when he dropped “Fist Up” from Digital Freedom and got down to an ultra-new Grizmatik beat “Digital Liberation is Mad Freedom”. Eric Mendelson supplements the funk by shredding guitar throughout the entirety of the set.
Finally, Bassnectar graced the stage with exposure of the most intense light show and impressive LCD screen set up to date. Across the screen was written “Say Yeah!” as he introduced himself by dropping “Infinite” off his newest EP Freestyle, a large portion of the set. Other tracks from this EP included Zion-I’s “Human” remix (ie. that song that goes “bounce, rock to my music party people, bounce”), “Freestyle” featuring Angel-Haze (think, “my mind is like a spaceship”), Jansten’s “When the beats Drop”, and the beloved trap version of Vava Voom. From an earlier album Vava Voom, we had the luck to experience Jansten’s “What” remix, “Butterfly”, and uber ‘hyphy’ track “Ping Pong”.
My personal favorites included “Magical World” Nelly Furtado, “Teleport Massive” (or, “I got a pocket full of hydro”), “Murderer” (or, that dope reggae track you always recognize), “Elevate” (or, “lodi-dodi we love to party we don’t cause trouble and we don’t bother nobody”), Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” (Yeah, that happened), “Kick Push” by Lupe Fiasco, and “Weed Wid Da Macka”.
Bassnectar expects, and is expected, to top each preceding tour. He succeeded this time with his hypnotizing visuals – a spectacle worth your complete attention when you manage to grasp your balance between “freak outs”. Beautiful scenes of nature and psychedelic patterns accompanied various laser like lights that danced across the ceiling and across the crowd in synchronization with the beat. He topped this show off with a dusting of confetti to add to the stimuli. Not only are the images meant to entertain, but also to inform, inspire, and educate. A large part of the Bassnectar culture is expression, freedom of speech, formulating valid opinions based on factual data, understanding, evaluating, and sentiments of togetherness.
At the end of each show, any Bass Head willing to hang around is able to watch Bassnectar walk off stage and have Lorin Ashton emerge along the rail a few long moments later to meet, converse, take pictures, and give autographs. Once again, validating his fervor and pleasure to make the experience extraordinary for his fans.
Peep a portion of the show at this link: https://vimeo.com/53749509
A list of songs personally noted in order in which they were played. Note that this list is subject to errors and is not all inclusive.
“Infinite” (Say yeah!!)
Timestretch
Teleport massive
Wildstyle Method
Immigranadia
Freestyle Remix
Jansten “when the beats drop” remix
Vava Voom Trap Remix
Murderer
Elevate
Jansten “What” “Like sista and brotha”
Zion-I “Human” Remix ….“Bounce party people to the music”
Basshead
Color storm remix
Weed Wid Da Maca
Ping pong
“Fire” Hendrix
“Change” Deftones
Magical World
Butterfly
Kick Push
Pennywise Tribute
Matrix
Review by Amanda Neff
Photography by Amanda Neff
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