C2C at The Independent 4/13/2013

 Everyone with a laptop and a playlist these days is a DJ and I for one don't care to go to a show to watch someone press buttons to "make" music. I mean, sure, the music can be fun but is that really a show worth going to?

AND! What do you say? 

"I'm going to a show?"

"I'm going to watch a DJ"

"I'm going to a DJ show? A DJ act?"

  

Paris Hilton's DJing debut  in June 2012 in Brazil digitaldjtips.com 

Pressing buttons on stage at a venue does not constitute as a show in my book but going to dance to that artist's song catalog I get.

Hesitant? 

Yes. 

Close minded? 

No! 

I'm always down to go to (any type of) show because...well,  you never know...

  

 With all of that said, I'm glad I did not pass up the chance to see C2C at The Indpendent. 

In all honesty I hadn't heard of them so I did a little research and pretty much right off the bat I liked what I heard. 

The bluesy riffs and southern twang mix on "Down the Road" intrigued my senses: the sound is fresh yet has a throw back feel, like back in the height of MOBY days and I wondered if the singer (singers as I listened on) accompanied C2C on stage or was a member of C2C the vocalist or was the singing an audio sample? It also made me wonder if there would be an accompaning band with them.

 After listening I still wasn't sure what to expect but I was kind of excited to find out. 

Plus, it had to be a good sign that the show was sold out, right? 

The show started slow and steady as 20Syl, Greem, Atom and Pfel found their spots behind a large dark podem and things really got going when the build up to "The Cell" began. The dark podem doubled as the screen of bright white ever-changing images as the subte intermingled instrumental build up dropped into dance beats. There was a serious sort of enthusiastic intensity present with each member or maybe it was concentration. Whatever it was, it was there.

Suddenly I found myself amidst a party dancing to the techno beats mixed with a variety of vocals  being both spun and sung while I watched what the guys were doing behind the podem.
Smiling, crowd engaging fist pumping, dancing away from their posts behind the podem but were they spinning?!

They briefly greeted the San Francisco crowd somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd song of their set and that's when it occurred to me that the "light show" was synced to the songs which added a little more spice to the night.
 As the geometric shapes morphed they fell into to place with each beat and the DJs active stage presence continued; a key element missing from almost all current DJ acts. All of that combined made me not want to take my focus off of the the stage, it was so fun and refreshing to see.

These guys are a band of DJs!

The guys got their dance on, interacting with one another by way of exchanges of glances, grins and busting out moves. At one point they asked the sold-out crowd to use their voices to "scratch" with them but this request got lost in translation causing a somewhat calm comotion of cheers on the dance floor which left each of the four DJ-ing dudes looking confused.

The show went on and decide to make my way upstairs to snap some aerial shots and... that's when happened! I could see that these frenchies were indeed spinning on their own turn table behind the podem!

 

Then, to my surprise and surely everyone else's, they split! Literally. 

No the show wasn't over, it was almost as if it was just getting started!

 

The podem split in two, separating the four DJs, excuse me, the four turntableists into dueling pairs for an fan-judged "scratch-off"!  Near the end of their set the four of them stepped out from behind their posts and rapped a moving a cover of the Beastie Boys hit “Intergalactic”as tribute to the late MCA. 

 

After the show in SF, C2C headed back to Indio CA to play the second weekend at Coachella where they undoubtedly turned the tent they played in into sweaty dance party. Coachella is bunches of fun, don't get me wrong but I was so happy to be able to see C2C at The Independent.
If you get a chance to see C2C in a club, do it.
 

The C2C boys will be back in town for LIVE105's BFD May 19th at The Shoreline. Be sure to catch their endearing, engaging, exciting set in the Subsonic Tent, il est très bon!