Throughout his 15 year career, San Francisco’s Bassnectar has played countless music festivals, toured as frequently as possible and rocked sold out stadiums across America. But, up until last Saturday, there was one monstrous arena he hadn’t tackled: Madison Square Garden. For this Bass Center VIII event, Bassnectar assembled an all-star lineup of Paper Diamond, Big Gigantic, and Dubstep titan Rusko. The venue was packed: fans travelled from far and wide to witness the 36 year old electronic music veteran mastermind a 2 hour potpourri of spine-shattering bass.
Paper Diamond began the show with a hearty mixture of high-hat heavy Trap & Electro Hip-Hop, warming the crowd up for what was to come. The set was short and slightly underwhelming, and after only a half hour of Paper Diamond, Rusko came out to raise the decibel level.
Prior to the show, Rusko had tweeted that he planned to play a throwback set of old bangers, strictly from 2005-2009. This marked the moment that the event started to get noticeably heavier. Rusko threw down a set that seemed like exactly what the crowd was looking for: filthy, bone-crushing Dubstep, with some Drum & Bass peppered in. The set began with 2007 banger “Jahova,” which immediately changed the whole ambience of the venue – fans who before were only slightly bobbing their heads were now getting down as hard as they could, blown away by the massive wobbles.
Throughout the set, Rusko brought some serious noise, dropping classics such as “Pro Nails,” “Woo Boost,” “Everyday,” and even Benga & Coki’s 2008 club anthem “Night.” After “Everyday” we were treated to a VIP of the Netsky Remix, followed by the original drop, into the Sub Focus remix of (arguably) Rusko’s most infamous track – “Hold On.” Judging by the amount of head banging and flailing seen throughout Madison Square Garden, it’d be safe to say Rusko did not disappoint.
After Rusko was Colorado’s Big Gigantic. The livetronica duo of Dominic Lalli on saxophone and Jeremy Salken’s live drumming layered over funky & jazzy electronic music is an experimental & musically-driven experience. However, in the past few years Big Gigantic has strayed away from this, and have cut back the amount of live improvisation, replacing it with more popular sub-genres of electronic music, such as Hardstyle or Trap.
Dom & Jeremy opened with Lettuce’s “Madison Square”, the official song for the New York Knicks, but soon after played a familiar set, including the sax-heavy electro-funk anthem “Touch The Sky,” the lead single off their recent album The Night is Young. Their remix of Aloe Blacc’s “I Need A Dollar” has become a mainstay in their live shows and the crowd still goes wild for it, singing along and grooving throughout the stands. Regardless of their new direction, nothing negative can be said about the musical ability of either musicians – both are incredibly talented individuals with Masters Degrees in Music. In the often short, but frequent moments where both members are fully expressing themselves through their respective instruments, they shine, and it is clear what got them to where they are now.
And then, the main event – Bassnectar took the stage and the lights went low. One single wub of bass spread throughout the entire stadium and every person went absolutely bonkers. He opened with his “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” Intro, letting everyone in the crowd know that he was about to transform Madison Square Garden into an intergalactic battleship, and rocket each and every one of them towards Mars.
After takeoff, he dove right in, starting off with an edit of New York native rapper Nas’ “The Don,” blaring the words “NEW YORK CITAY” across the venue with entrancing aerial visuals of the Empire State Building and the skyline of the city. He then jumped into “Wildstyle Method,” a malicious banger off of his 2010 Wildstyle EP, paired with Zion I’s “Juicy Juice” vocals. It became immediately apparent to everyone in attendance that they were in for a special night. Bassnectar did what he always does: he played something for everyone, and tickled the fancies of every type of fan.
Showgoers were treated to in-your-face eardrum-bursting dubstep tracks like Datsik’s “Wickedest Wobble” and Stagga’s “I Got Bass (Remix).” Fans of Trap music got their fair share of 808s with Von Toth’s “Trap for Me,” and Bassnectar’s “Don’t Hate The 808,” a single off of his recent album. There were a fair share of Hop-Hop tracks as well, with Bassnectar playing the Chop Shop Remix of Mad Lion’s “Double Trouble” with KRS-One. The inclusion of both this track and the Nas song used as the intro were obvious homages to New York City as both MCs are from Queens & The Bronx respectively. Bassnectar even whipped out his Jimi Hendrix edits of “Purple Haze” & “Fire,” and seamlessly mixed The Zombies’ classic hit, “Time of the Season” with a high-energy fast-paced collaboration with the upbeats off of “Noise vs. Beauty” entitled “Gnar.”
Every Bassnectar concert is a completely new animal, each unique in its own way from the next. No two shows are alike, even if songs are repeated, because the extreme attention to detail the artist takes at crafting each and every one of his setlists is stifling. Basscenter VIII was no different. The extreme level and overall strength of the bass in Madison Square Garden was something not regularly experienced at any type of show, and was truly an enlightening experience.
Not many people have heard what can happen when Bass is harnessed properly. One fan mentioned that her pants were vibrating manically because of how overwhelming the sound was. Bassnectar’s seemingly perfect transitions, mind-blowing visual set-ups & ground shaking sound systems never seem to get old for the simple reason that its not possible – the entire experience is Amorphous, and he’s constantly got a new trick up his sleeve. New-age fans get familiar songs like “You & Me” or “Noise,” but the old school fans who have been with him since the beginning still leave happy. Die-hard veterans were delighted after hearing songs they’ve always dreamed of experiencing live, like “Prince,” a Deftones remix that the DJ rarely blesses his crowds with.
Bassnectar has evolved so much since his inception, but the artist continues to bless his fanbase with older songs like 2007 album Underground Communication’s “FSOSF,” which is a drastically differen style from a completely different era of Bassnectar that has long since passed. The simple fact is that no one leaves unhappy from a Bassnectar concert, because every aspect has been touched on, every genre has been graced upon, and every individual piece of each setlist has been carefully picked and placed in its proper place for maximum mind-bending pleasure.
[photo by Max Hoage]