Paul Oakenfold at Rev Ultra Lounge, Minneapolis (13 June 2014) concert review
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Jagermeister Ultimate Summer of Music Tour
06/27/14 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theatre
06/28/14 Bozeman, MT Lindley Park “Interchange” 06/29/14 Digital Dreams Music Festival 07/03/14 Phoenix, AZ Monarch Theatre 07/04/14 San Antonio, TX Club Rio 07/05/14 Houston, TX Stereo Live 07/19/14 Tampa, FL The Ritz Ybor 08/24/14 Daresbury Estate Creamfields 09/05/14 Austin, TX Republic Live 09/13/14 Seattle, WA Foundation Nightclub 09/20/14 Park City, UT Park City Live Read More
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He’s previously played massive open fields and stadiums, on the Great Wall of China, Cyberfest in front of 80,000+, Glastonbury Festival to over 90,000 people, and recently to 30,000 at the Hollywood Bowl.
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Paul Oakenfold
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But a few of the fortunate on Friday got to see landmark DJ, Paul Oakenfold, hit the decks in the new Rev Ultra Lounge (the downstairs of Union Restaurant)- a room with a capacity of a mere 280.
This was an incredibly small venue, like the legend in your living room, the preeminent EDM artist of the last twenty years spinning in a room the size of your rich uncle’s basement. For the ones that managed to get in, it wasn’t just lucky, it was Perfecto.
Oakenfold is out as part of the Jagermeister Ultimate Summer of Music tour, and his latest release, Trance Mission (Perfecto Records) is due out this week, which covers a dozen of his favorite trance tracks from over the last twenty-five years. Corporate sponsorship may have helped book him into such a small space with a low ticket price, and promo items were everywhere- from logo-emblazoned inflatable lighted glow tubes, to sweatbands, coasters, and fake eyeglasses (?!).
Any thinking that the full two-hour set would be low-key and laid-back to promote his new trance album, was quickly dashed as Oakenfold took over the decks from a local SIM Shows DJ and started his set with trademark throbbing bass, building rhythms, and pulsing electronica. Starting just after midnight to an already packed and heated crowd, Oakenfold deftly mixed in elements of breakbeat, acid house, electronica, trance, big beat, and more, with tempo that ebbed and flowed, as conducted by a master.
More familiar songs delivered in a Perfecto remix included Capital Cities’ ‘Safe and Sound’, a brilliant and extended ‘Sweet Disposition’ from The Temper Trap, and even fellow DJ, Tiesto’s ‘Take Me’.
Oakie encamped himself behind the consoles for the evening, fist-bumping and inciting the mostly young audience, most of whom couldn’t even see him unless you were within 8-10 feet of the DJ booth.
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The audience
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In terms of atmosphere, it was predictably much like any other packed dance club: drink spilled on my leg- check; two party shouting match over who had the VIP table- check; drunk girl seemingly dancing to her own rhythms- check; and so on, which all made for good people watching.
As the rollercoaster set wound down, the still-frenzied crowd chanted for more and the icon returned for an encore, starting it with an extended house mix of The Killers’ ‘Mr. Brightside’, which squeezed the collective last amount of energy from the sweat and drink-soaked throng.
As the show ended, the room gradually emptied, leaving souvenirs of the extravaganza still strewn about everywhere- confetti on the floor and couches, drink glasses and cans in every crevice, and a humid haze over the entire room, like the set of another “Hangover” sequel, the remnants of a lucky Friday the 13th evening in downtown Minneapolis.
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Paul Oakenfold at Rev Ultra Lounge, Minneapolis (13 June 2014) |