Avicii Brings out the Guns for Detroit
Congratulations to the new React Detroit. Likewise for Avicii, for one of the better sets he has played, especially in the times I’ve seen him live. And if you are ever in Detroit, Bert’s Warehouse is a must. Let me explain.
Bert’s, located in downtown Detroit on Russell street, has a deceiving store front of a small bar, diner, and lounge. One door however, takes you to the back – an enormous warehouse space complete with two bars, seating on the side, and a cafeteria in the back for the hungry ravers. Did I mention there is room? While the main crowd packs in towards the stage, there is ample room on the sides if you need to dance. It was my first time being there and from the lights to the stage and the sound system, I couldn’t have been a happier camper. It’s been used mostly for raves, Avicii being one of their first major mainstream electronic music artists.
So now the venue’s great, what about the opening DJ, Yos? Yos was also great when I came in –building up the tempo with some deep house and easing the crowd into the excitement. As for Avicii, he was another story (I mean that in a good way). The previous times I have seen him play, I’ve had my reservations as him being a mainstream popular artist. And to be honest, his sets did not impress me whatsoever. When he came on playing Fade into
Darkness as his opener, I was thinking to myself oh dear we’re in for another “one of those” sets. Well, luckily I had the pleasure of being surprised. I guess being in the birthplace of house music really inspired him to go dirty and not wanting to disappoint a crowd that knows music. He played a lot of harder, bass heavy songs, using his own synth happy tracks as breaks. Some of the tracks he dropped were his original Bromance (Avicii’s Arena Mix), My Feelings for You, his remix of Robyn’s Hang with Me, a hint of Green Velvet’s Flash (Nicky Romero Remix) mashed into Coming Home, Coldplay’s Every Tear Drop, and quite a few others. Perhaps why I thought this set was more successful than others is he did more mixing of his tracks into other progressive house tracks, and the transitions weren’t so obvious. Practice makes perfect and this DJ still has a lot to learn, regardless of his productions. There were some solid bass drops that kept the stage shaking and vibrating with the beat. Below the crowd was going wild, reminding me more of a festival than a single concert. Avicii’s encore with Jump Around just drove the nail in, adding a shock of energy to the crowd as all hands went up, bodies jumping high. The show ended at 2:30am, half an hour longer than the usual 2am curfew. I left carrying the energy – something you experience when you see a crowd so large and so into it, a sort of gratefulness for the music.
A full house packed Bert’s, showing that Detroit’s always ready for a good show despite Deadmau5 playing for two nights in Detroit that weekend as well. This was React’s first show in Detroit and based on how the show was ran, I am looking forward to their productions. Coming up is Freaky Deaky at Bert’s – the Halloween costume rave party with Claude von Stroke. It’s nice to have another EDM power house in the area to bring in the best EDM acts and make Detroit even more of a home for electronic music, where it all began.
Robyn – Hang With Me (Avicii’s Exclusive Club Mix)
Tiesto – Escape Me (Avicii’s Remix At Night)
The drop of Escape me was probably my favorite, since I hadn’t heard that track in a while.
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