The Avalanches at Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (30 Sep 2022)

Australian sample pioneers The Avalanches (Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi) headlined the Varsity Theater, in Minneapolis, on Friday, September 30th.

Opening the show was Arizona’s Kareem Ali (كريم علي). The self-described “EEM” (Ethereal Electronic Music) DJ spent the entire 40-min set laser focused on his laptop, while in complete darkness (with random backlight).

The music was a lot of club-pulsing synths, which got the crowd bumping and dancing. You can sample some of his tracks, such as “Stay Strong” and “Love Is Why” on his Soundcloud.

 

In the late 90s, Melbourne’s The Avalanches (then a full band with a rapper, drummer and so on) spent the better part of their lives touring with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, etc. After the massive success of Since I Left You in 2000, the band sort of just took a break from touring six years later. The 2016 touring band featured Robbie Chater on mixing, Andy Szekeres on keyboards, synthesizer, Spank Rock on rapping, Eliza Wolfgramm on vocals, Paris Jeffree on drums, Oscar Vicente Slorach-Thorn on vocals, and Jonti Danilewitz on guitars.

Currently, it would seem that The Avalanches are keeping it simple with just Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi, doing all the live mixing by themselves. The two looked really excited to be playing live, even face timing with a loved one to show them the audience and let them hear the set in real time.

Over the many years of experience, their current setup is a massive two-person table using live using samplers, analogue keyboards, bass guitar, drum kit, theremin, turntables, a percussion stand, and MIDI-controlled special effects. They also brought with them their own custom light setup, which were carefully synced with their music to display certain colors for certain songs. For example, when The Beach Boys sample of “God Only Knows” was played the background lit up a golden color.

For these DJ shows, it’s all about the light show and it’s all about the music. If you were a music nerd, you can hear all sorts of samples, from Queen to Willy Wonka, in their compositions.

Unfortunately, shortly after playing the Varsity Theater, the duo cancelled their remaining tour dates due to serious illness on October 1: “Unfortunately due to serious illness we have had to make the heartbreaking decision to cancel our remaining US and Canadian shows to return home. Thank you to everyone who has made this tour so joyous, and apologies to everyone who had tickets for the remaining shows. All ticket holders will be contacted directly with refund details. Thank you.”

The Avalanches’ latest album We Will Always Love You is out now.