by Ian Copeland
For EDM fans of New York City your options were near limitless for New Years Eve. For the fans of house, some found themselves at R3HAB and Afrojack. The trance lovers made their way to Pier 36 for Armin Van Buuren, and the bass lovers made their way to Pretty Lights at Roseland Ballroom. However, for those that wanted to ring in the new year with champagne & bananas, they only had one place to go and that was the Dada Land Compound in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
This new venue received a lot of hype prior to the show, promising something between “Santas Workshop and the Playboy Grotto”. However you perceived the vast descriptions given of the night, Dada Life made the idea very “simple” – This is Dada Land. Get ready to arrive beautiful and leave ugly. There are no rules but the rules of Dada. Don’t look back in the past. Always go forward. And whatever you do: DON’T TRUST US!
Although the handling of ticket sales, security, and coat check for the event left a lot to be desired, once inside they sure did live up to all the boasting. Fitted with multiple bars, massive sound system, lighting and special effects around the entire warehouse, there was also giant LED clocks fitted everywhere so no matter where you looked, you couldn’t miss the moment we all came for.
Though he didn’t arrive until 11:15, after Deniz Koyu had already taken the stage, it seemed Pierce Fulton did quite a good job getting everyone well hyped for the evening. Mixing electro and heavy bass, Koyu kept everyone raging up to the countdown at midnight. Almost immediately after the stroke of midnight, the lights dropped and an ominous voice comes across the speakers:
“Welcome to Dada Land. There are no rules but the rules of Dada. If you don’t think you can follow them, this is your last chance to change your mind. You are beautiful right now, but very soon it’s time to get UGLY! UGLY! UGLY! UGLY!”
From there Dada Life took the stage, wished everyone a Happy New Year, and promised the UGLIEST year to come. To say the least, the crowd went BANANAS!
Opening their set with a very fitting “Everything is Free”, the lyrics really forced the happy out of all in attendance. The night for Dada was one to have fun with, mixing together all of their fan favorites, such as “Rolling Stone T-Shirt” and “Kick Out the Epic Motherfucker”. They mixed their bubbly mix of electro, dubstep, hard house, and just about every other kind of EDM music imaginable. As this was not an an all Dada set, just about every possible EDM hit from the past year made an appearance; songs from Kaskade, Axwell, and Tommy Trash were peppered throughout the night.
Banana suit clad partiers went “all in” for the Dada as multiple people were seen struggling to make it through the entire night. Dada kept things going for near 2 hours closing the evening with “Feed the Dada.” This actually sparked a second wind of raging to bring out Bassjackers who, in my opinion, were leaps and bounds better than Koyu and Dada.
Bassjackers not only surprised me with their set, but really made this an amazing night. It’s one thing to get a great set from the headliner of a show, but to have the group closing the show bring all life back to this crazy warehouse and bring even more energy out of them is a testament to Bassjackers. Essentially, if you haven’t seen them due to what you might think you know, guess again; make a special trip to see them, and make it count, because they won’t disappoint. Dada Land was a raging success and made for an amazing New Years celebration.
The Live Set can be found below if you want to live, or relive the night.
Check out L4LM’s pics on our Facebook page and tag yourself!