[Photos Taken By Kathryn Rose Korcz & Corey Regensburger]

Last Thursday, October 23, 2014, Best Buy Theater in Times Square hosted the amazing Creature Carnival Tour, the highly anticipated Beats Antique Fall Tour featuring Shpongle, Emancipator, and Lafa Taylor. Between the elaborate fan costumes and creations in the lobby, the regalia found on the performers and within the venue itself, and the eclectic sound that each artist had to offer, this tour was just as magical and intriguing as it promised to be.

 

Beats Antique’s Tommy Cappel elaborated what could be expected from the tour in a prior interview with Live For Live Music. “We really wanted to have fun this fall with the carnival vibe,” Cappel said. “and since Shpongle, Emancipator, and Lafa Taylor are all friends and musical peers, we thought our collective fans would enjoy printing out masks and be inspired to dress up and have a blast!” Lafa Taylor served as an extremely entertaining master of ceramonies. He entertained the crowd in a brightly colored ringmaster’s uniform, which only he could pull off. He opened the evening with an experimental hip hop set and continued appear in between performances to beat box for the audience and introduce both billed artists and unbilled local talent.

[Lafa Taylor] 

Up next was Emancipator. Doug Appling combined intricate beats with incredibly smooth music samples as violinist Ilya Goldberg punctuated it all with infections melodies. The ethereal tone mixed with the overwhelming bass made the music feel so powerful, its energy radiating through my bones. Although their set felt somewhat short, Emancipator had the crowd swooning, swaying, and revved up for the night ahead.

 [Emancipator]

Shortly after, Shpongle hit the stage hard and did his thing. Although it was not his familiar “Shpongle Experience” stage setup, Simon Posford live mixed some great music and kept everything up-tempo with a high-energy showcase. He successfully got the crowd “Shpongled” with his signature style of ambient, psychedelic, and mind-blowing music. Oh, and of course his magical flute as well.

 

[Shpongle]

After Shpongle’s set, the audience was antsy for the main event. However, to the crowd’s delight, Lafa Taylor came back on-stage to introduced some announced local talent. First on stage was the Brooklyn-based belly-dancing troop, Soulstice. As a collective known for toying with the connection between the art of belly-dancing and electronic music, Soulstice captivated onlookers with their downplayed grace and the sharpness of each movement. Second local act, dance troop Enchanted, added to the theatrics of the night with elaborate costumes and seductive stares.

[Soulstice]

[Enchanted]

The Carnival had reached its height as soon as Beats Antique made their way to the stage. Tommy Cappel, David Satori, and Zoe Jakes caused quite the ruckus at Best Buy Theater in the best possible way. Within the first three songs played, including their big hit “Egyptic”, there was a full drum line, decorative masks, multiple elaborate costumes, creatures aplenty, and of course, belly-dancing. Loyal legions of fans watched in awe as Zoe Jakes contorted her body in a spell-binding and playful way. Although she usually flies solo, Zoe was joined on stage by two other equally talented and bewitching dancers throughout the night. The band played both familiar and new music throughout the night and kept the audience constantly moving and begging for more.

 

[Zoe Jakes]

The carnival theme throughout the night was consistent and fun, especially during the audience participation segment. An audience volunteer happily appeared onstage only to be tackled by a gigantic, inflatable cyclopse dog, in good fun. Later in the set, Emancipator’s Ilya Goldberg joined Beats Antique on stage for a beautifully moving version of “Mission”, a great collaboration to witness first hand.

Overall, The Creature Carnival Tour was able to fully capture the artistic feel and the sheer playfulness of a three-day summer music festival and pack it into one exciting evening. Every part of me left that theater feeling inspired and creatively satisfied. The only thing that was missing was a crazy encore performance but due to venue curfew, that request could not come to fruition. This creature carnival was certainly an exciting ride, one that hopefully returns soon.

– Marisa Frydman (@musicalmarisa)