The Hood Internet, Yeahdef, Red Sean
The Loft
June 25, 2010
Better Than: sitting on the wall like you were Poindexter.
Going to see Chicago's Hood Internet, I figured the crowd would be predominately college-age and looking for a party. But walking up the stairs to the second-floor performance spot at the Palladium complex was more like walking into a high school party.
Just like it, actually: You were promised there would be booze, girls and a DJ spinning phat beats, and in fact, you got all these things you were promised. But the boys and girls are on separate sides of the room... and no one is doing anything... except the DJ.
Huh?
At one point, it seemed, there was so little action that opening DJ Red Sean put on an extra long track so he could hit up the bar. No one was hitting up the dance floor as Sean pumped out the big-room house, so, really, why couldn't he hit up the bar, right?
But a funny thing happened at what seemed to be an overblown high school party: Things started to pick up. As Red Sean relinquished his decks to Denton favorite Yeahdef, people actually started to hit the dance floor.
Suddenly, the combination of drinking age partygoers and music conducive to
shaking one's ass moved the party from lame to fun in a matter of only
a few songs.
As yeahdef tore through reworked, amped-up versions of 20 Fingers' "Short Dick Man" and Destiny's Child's "Say My Name," the room started to feed off his energy, and a crowd began to fill up the floor, dancing and gyrating (or just jumping around and being silly and enjoying the music).
One thing I noticed from the time I first walked into the room, though? There wasn't a video screen behind the stage. Normally, this wouldn't we something that would catch my eye--but I could have sworn I read on The Loft's Facebook page that the show was going to be an audio/visual show. In my mind, I was wondering if it would be something in line with DJ Shadow's incredible visual shows, or something a little more lame like Pretty Lights' glorified screen savers.
But, in the end, that was my problem with the show: no visual element.
With any DJ show there has to be an visual element. Sure, it's interesting to watch DJs do their business, twisting knobs, picking out records, working the effects on the mixer but, after a while it can get a little... boring. And, when the DJs are using laptops to do their work instead of turntables, it can get real boring, real fast for those who didn't come to dance.
But for those who did come to dance there wasn't even so much as a hiccup in the party. As The Hood Internet took the stage and set up on the table directly behind Yeahdef, they thanked Red Sean and Yeahdef and began the party with a reworked version of "Nuthin But A G Thang." Through the first song, Red Sean and Yeahdef tore down their setups so STV, SLV and the sound girl could move their table to the front of the stage.
If there was anyone who thought that this should would simply be watching two guys push buttons on their computer, then someone should've told ABX. He was the more active half of the duo throughout the show, jumping, dancing and pumping his fist in the air (like he just didn't care). As the duo tore through "Got Your Smoke" (Ol' Dirty Bastard ft. Kelis vs. White Williams) and "Touch The Television" (Kanye West vs Cage & Aviary), the dance floor grew bigger and sweatier. Not even a reworked version of "Whoomp, There It Is!" could keep the party from continuing. But the biggest crowd pleaser of the night? That went to the tandem's Weezer vs Glass Candy mash-up "Buddy Holly's Imagination." The crowd danced and sang along to every word.
As the set went on, it became increasingly evident that if you came to party, you don't need no stinkin' video screen.
Critic's Notebook
By The Way: I guess college kids still don't start the party until 11 p.m. at the earliest.
Random Note: I didn't think that many high school kids would be into
The Hood Internet, but, clearly, they were. Until the SMU set started
making their entrance close to 11 o'clock, the entire crowd seemed to be made
up of entirely of high school students who got to stay up late on a
Friday night.
