My ears are still ringing with the sounds of The Crystal Method. Dave, Dan and I caught them for their most recent visit to The Rave in Milwaukee. They came through the Midwest this weekend on tour of their 4th artist album, Divided by Night.
It's rather interesting that an electronica group so synonymous and iconic with electronic music has only released 4 artist albums. These guys are legends and have been heard all over the world. Even if you're reading this and don't know who The Crystal Method are, chances are that you've heard their music before but didn't know it.
Their first album, Vegas, which was released back in 1997 has been sampled, optioned, and used all over entertainment. I was actually quite delighted when they played "Busy Child" during their set this evening. ^_^
The Crystal Method rocked! I've seen them before WAY back in 2002 when they were touring for their first mix album, Community Service. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from that event since it was before I owned a camera!
That night was pretty fun, but they just played their CD basically. The first 7 songs from their set were mixed almost identically to the first 7 songs of their album. Event-wise, I think they were too used to playing songs rather than being a DJ.
This was the first time I've seen them perform their music Live and it is a world of difference. It was an amazing night with a super-friendly crowd that totally got into the music. Everyone in the audience had a real great time.
The atmosphere completely changed once The Crystal Method got up on stage. The aura at the beginning of the night was rather stale and toe-tapping. It was playful, but the DJ didn't really know how to pump up a crowd. He'd start building up to something, but then immediately tear it down. He'd use songs with off-beat bass. And he ended his set with "Push it" by Salt-n-Pepa. weird...
Once he left and The Crystal Method took the stage, the audience exploded. A smile came across everyone's face, and everyone started bouncing around. Whooo! It was marvelous. ^_^
I wonder if they get this sort of attention everywhere, or if it's really unique to The Rave. At the end of the set, they said that this venue was their favorite amongst the world. That they've never had a bad crowd in Milwaukee. I don't know if they were just pandering to the crowd or if they were honest or embellishing, but I'd believe it.
