I can vividly pinpoint the period in my life when I started to make the transition from being an avid, raw instrumental jam band (Phish) loving teenager towards the foreign genre, dominated by machines, synthesizers, and Europeans. The electronic album I purchased that bridged this gap (in CD form of course) was Fatboy Slim’s You’ve Come a Long Way Baby. Thanks to MTV, I had already been exposed to the album’s two poppy earworms, Rockafeller Skank and Praise You. Though the album had been released six years prior, I could not have made this purchase at a better time in my life. I raced home to an empty house with Fatboy’s gold in my hand. I remember placing the CD into my parents sound system, turning the volume up to a teenager friendly, deafening level, laying down and pressing play. When the ambient noises of Acid 8000 came to a close, I went back to track one, and pressed play again. I was hooked.
Shockingly, I realized that these two genres had a fair amount in common, structurally and emotionally. Every member in Phish is a master of his instrument. When the band jams they abandon spoken word and create a monolithic wall of emotion through sound. These jams take the listener on a symphonic journey to another place and time far away from where their feet are planted. (The same aberration can come when listening to jazz or classical music.) All of these ingredients are present in electronic music. As soon as I understood the symmetry within these principles, I began branching out to other electronic artist such as Fischerspooner, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, and Calvin Harris.
As the sun was setting on Saturday, July 2nd, we began our voyage over to Governor’s Island. Upon arrival, my heart skipped a beat when I saw the venue sign, Water Taxi Beach. For years I have been hearing how phenomenal this place is, and now I knew why. The space transports you to a beach in Europe. We were right on water, staring out upon the illuminated skylines of New Jersey, New York City, and Brooklyn. Neon palm trees lined the space where the water met the sand, and yes, the sand encouraged your feet to be bare. To the right was a large white tent with a state of the art sound system. Water Taxi Beach was filled with the perfect amount of people. No matter where you were (tent, beach, drink line, front row) there was ample space to dance and breathe. Talk about venue paradise.
James Zabiela had just taken the stage as we entered the venue. This man was high on his own energy and sported a gigantic smile on face. His set was one giant transition that succeeded in consistency: balance, BPM, volume, and symmetry. His music was full of soul. So much of his set was dependant on the bass. The bass created melodic lines, driving four to the floor beats, mixed meter measures, and you could hear the melodic lines in the bass, with delicate overtones lightly sounding. James was also running music programs and controlling the lights through an iPad he had plugged into his sea of machines. At the end of his set he held up his MacBook Pro, turned it towards the crowd to show off the message Thank you : ).The audience roared with approval. The next message he displayed was Fatboy Slim : ) and again the audience screamed. Those two ending gestures had me smiling and clapping for a long while.
Within minutes the legendary track, Praise You, was vibrating through the crowd. Fatboy Slim took the stage sporting a Tommy Bahama, aqua blue shirt, massive grey cargo shorts, bare feet, and spiked grey hair. He looked like a character alright. Praise You faded into Put Your Hands Up in the Air and then Fatboy Slim is Fucking in Heaven. His lights and background videos were very simple yet complimentary to his tunes.
Something that had stuck out to me upon arrival was the crowd. About half of the attendees were between 18-24, while the other half were between 30-25. This took me back to your typical Phish crowd. At Phish shows, you could feel the crowd’s devotion, respect, appreciation, and love for the band and the art they were creating and sharing. Lately, as electronic music has been infiltrating the mainstream, the crowds have gotten younger, more obliterated, and are present because it’s ‘the cool thing to do.’ Fatboy Slim’s audience made me feel like I was part of something musically and culturally authentic.
However, as his set progressed, I became heavily displeased. The sounds pouring out of his speakers were sounding less original. He began to sample L.M.F.A.O’s I’m in Manhattan Bitch and Cee Lo Green’s Fuck You. I remember thinking, “Is this what You want to play? Or do you think this is what the audience wants to hear?” It was very bizarre. Then, out of the blue, his set switched over to a very Tiesto-esque sound and Fatboy sounded a disgustingly loud airhorn. It was loud for louds sake. Gross. His set was not consistent. It jumped between 5 different genres the whole evening: original tracks, pop, tech-house, classic rock, and pop-electro. Towards the end of his set he sampled the Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch Up. For his encore, he performed I Can’t Get No Rockafeller Skank, mashing up the Rolling Stones I Can’t Get No Satisfaction and his own track Rockafeller Skank. As much as I enjoyed the beginning and ending of the set, I was very disappointed in its entirety. The crowd had also visibly diminished and emptied out by the end of the eve. We made our way back to the ferry with Mozart blasting in the background. As much as I love Mozart and classical music, I thought this outro was random and poorly placed.
Overall, I am glad that I got to see one of my idol’s perform live even if it wasn’t a mind-blowing set. James Zabiela rocked my world and I highly suggest listening to a few of his tracks if you are not familiar with him. Dance. Here. Now. produced an amazing evening and we can’t wait to see what they come out with next. Thank you again to the promoters and venue for making this event possible and we hope this tradition carries on through next year!
Photos by Cecilia Doreng-Stearns
