Knife Party concert

The best thing about living in New York, for me, is being able to see so many of my favorite producers live. It's still hard to believe that in less than two months' time, I've seen Feed Me, Porter Robinson, Madeon, and Knife Party. Plus, I've got a Mord Fustang concert coming in April. I really feel like I am experiencing the most exciting things for me, because above all, I love music and sports.

My passion for electronic music has developed in the past year, but I had quickly fallen in love with a group called Pendulum. Nominally, they were considered drum 'n bass, and their first album reflected that, but their second and third albums took influences from electro house, rock, and other genres. Their third album, Immersion, is easily one of my favorite albums of all time. It's just an incredible work from start to finish.

Sadly, Pendulum broke up a couple of years ago. The two main producers from Pendulum, Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, formed Knife Party, and have been producing a unique mix of electro house, dubstep, and even some moombahton. They've created a very unique sound and have released a lot of loud, epic songs that I grew to love. Some of their songs use some quirky vocal samples, like "Centipede", which talks about giant tropical centipedes. Knife Party's music is definitely something of an acquired taste, but as someone who fell in love with electronic music through Feed Me's unique mix of electro house, progressive house, and dubstep, I have come to love Knife Party.

I knew that they wouldn't actually take the stage until 1:15 or 1:30, so I didn't get to the club until about 12:10 am Saturday morning (Friday night, whatever you want to call it). The opener used a nice mix of electro house, and didn't get caught up in producing as insanely loud bass as possible while ignoring musical quality, which I appreciated. The second floor of Pacha (the club), where I stood for the Madeon concert, was VIP only for Knife Party, so I was stuck on the first floor. I thought I had found a little bit of space near the stage to stand, but this obnoxious group of bros and bro-ettes (whatever girls hang out with bros) were standing there too. I didn't really care, but then more of their obnoxious friends came and pushed and shoved in near them. I was livid, because I was standing there first and minding my own business when they intruded in the small bit of space I had been standing in like they owned it. The worst offense was the girls in the group continually getting pictures of themselves taken, for which they needed to carve out a large swathe of space so they could get maximum likes when they posted it to Instagram.

I am a very tolerant person, so I wasn't going to do anything, but it was infuriating. I kept wishing that I could just have a little bit of space somewhat near the stage in which to stand. Having some sweaty bro's back pressed up against you is not comfortable. Whatever. I wasn't going to let them ruin my night, because I was seeing Knife Party and that's all that really mattered.

When I saw two guys nearing the stage, one with a hat, I knew it was time for Knife Party. Gareth was wearing his signature hat, of course. Rob Swire looked just as awesome as expected. I wish I could grow a goatee like his. The concert reinforced my veritable man-crush on Rob Swire, he's just too awesome. I wish I could rock a midi-guitar like he did in the Pendulum days.

Anyway, they had an epic setlist of loud, bass-heavy songs that got the crowd pumped up. Their song "Tourniquet" came on early in the setlist, and the catchy electro house tune was great to hear live. "Fire Hive" was another one of my favorites, with loud bass and a unique rhythm that mixed dubstep and moombahton. They mixed in their remix of Swedish House Mafia's "Save the World" and a little remix of part of Swedish House Mafia's hit "Don't You Worry Child". While the songs almost all had a loud, driven bass line, it wasn't overpowering and exemplified their ability to produce catchy songs with epic bass.

Until they kick us out... until they kick us out...

They saved their song "Bonfire" for the end, and what a way to finish. The crowd yelled the word "Bonfire!" whenever it came up in the song, and the crazy bass drops of the song left my ears buzzing the whole way home. If they had played any Pendulum in their setlist, I think the world would have exploded from awesomeness overload. Ok, maybe that's just me, but it was an amazing concert nonetheless. Those two crazy Aussies know what they're doing.