It’s 4 a.m., and I’m just returning to my room after a long five or six hours. Not only am I exhausted, but my back is sore and both of my legs are cramped. Most people would think from that description that I had a terrible night.
Those people would be terribly misinformed. On Thursday, April 4, at Water Street Music Hall I was fortunate enough to experience one of the best concerts of my life ? Sasha and John Digweed.
Combining a tracklist full of the top trance, progressive and house tunes with superb mixing, it was accompanied by fantastic visuals to create an atmosphere like no other.
The opening DJ and master of ceremonies was Jimmie Van M., a well-known DJ himself who skillfully got the crowd into the music.
Van M. started off a bit slow, playing several tracks that were tough to dance to and had a rather inconsistent beat. Within half an hour, he picked up the pace and was able to set the crowd up for Sasha, who was next to man the tables.
The opening set by Sasha was a beautiful mix of progressive trance sounds, with breaks and builds that were a pleasure to hear and great to dance to. He seemed to know what track to play next, and was a step ahead of what the crowd wanted to hear.
Sasha appeared to really be into his mixing, and seemed unstoppable. Later in the show, it appeared as if Digweed was almost overshadowed by the performance put on by Sasha, although both were equally good in their own respective ways.
Digweed came up after Sasha, and came out with a slightly different style. Where Sasha was more into the slow builds and trance elements, Digweed played more of a house style of music, with a hard bass that set up a good beat. The punchy beats were intertwined seamlessly with excellent melodies that kept the crowd moving.
The mixing and beatmatching by Digweed is unmatched by most current DJs, as he was able to piece songs together into a constant, ever growing and expanding sound.
Sasha seemed to outshine Digweed after his second set. He took the back seat to Sasha, who continually put on track after track of pure adrenalin.
The response from the crowd was extremely positive, and I don’t think that a single person was disappointed with the night.
Nearly everything was perfect ? great music, superior mixing, and a club environment that seemed to pull everything together.
I strongly recommend seeing Sasha and John Digweed live, especially before the Delta Heavy tour concludes. Even for those who are not fans of this electronica style of music, it would still be a performance to remember.
Re can be reached at sre@campustimes.org.
