This is not a joke: Last night, a 73 year old DJ made his New York City debut, and he not only sold it out, but forced a venue change to Output in order to accommodate the massive demand the event attracted. The man responsible for all of this madness? Revolutionary Italian producer Giorgio Moroder. He may not exactly be a household name, but you are definitely familiar with his productions. Moroder was at the forefront of the disco revolution, producing classics like Donna Summer‘s ‘Love To Love You Baby’, ‘On The Radio’ and ‘I Feel Love’, before helping define the 80′s synth pop sound by producing various hit soundtracks. ‘Push It To The Limit’ from Scarface, ‘What A Feeling’ from Flashdance, ‘Take My Breath Away’ from Top Gun – all Moroder. But recently, he’s been in the news for his various collaborations with Daft Punk on their latest album, Random Access Memories.
So it makes sense, that with Daft Punk-mania taking full force, the timing was perfect for Moroder to make his first live performance in New York City. Francois K, founder of the Deep Space parties at Cielo (the event’s original venue), as well as being a highly prolific DJ himself, started of the night by introducing us to the club, before dropping directly into Daft Punk’s ‘Give Life Back To Music’, setting the tone for the rest of the night and delving into his own arsenal of 70′s and 80′s disco hits.
Eventually, the man himself, accompanied by his ‘musical director’, Chris, walked into the booth. It was somewhat surreal seeing the 73 year old Moroder put on his headphones while a packed crowd of kids, many young enough to be his grandchild, roared with applause. Moroder instantly broke into his set, mixing together some of his biggest productions spanning his entire career. Listening to the man go through his catalogue of hits, it was astonishing both how many hits the man has been behind, and how ahead of his time he truly was. His disco tracks, songs like ‘I Feel Love’, had such a powerful presence on the dance floor with the top notch sound system at Output. The crowd fully embraced the disco vibes, dancing as if it was Studio 54.
Deeper into his 80′s catalogue is where you can really see how influential Moroder is to today’s electronic music scene. The instrumental songs created for soundtracks like ‘Chase’ from Midnight Express are really the predecessor to modern techno, with distinctive synthesizers and progressive production. He’s kind of like an Italian Kraftwerk. His latest production, ‘Racer’, fits into this genre but still feels so incredibly modern. It perfectly connected with the crowd when Moroder dropped it, and I can imagine many DJs will find ways to incorporate it into their sets.
While Moroder did have some assistance in the booth, he was by no means a slouch. In addition to the turntables, Moroder also contributed live keyboards and vocals through his signature vocoder. It was a truly impressive performance under any circumstances. The set closed with, what else, ‘Giorgio By Moroder’ off Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’. Moroder performed the opening monologue live, just as he did on the album, before dropping a beat clearly inspired by the man himself.
This night was promised to be something special, and I think anyone who was there can confirm that it was. There was just that extra element in the crowd, knowing that you were witnessing something ‘big’. It’s extremely fitting that Moroder is getting this kind of recognition this deep into his career, especially by a new, young audience, not only showing respect for a legend of the industry, but fully rocking out to his music. While this was Moroder’s first DJ set in New York City, I would certainly hope it’s not the last, as the guy definitely seems to still have some tricks up his sleeve.
Listen to his Set Here:
(Photo By Pitchfork)