April 12th, 2008 - RJD2 @ Chop Suey, Seattle

The good: RJD2 was rockin' it on stage. Highlights include a killer remix set (of his own music), live performances of the more rock-based music (he had a wicked sounding telecaster), and video game references:

The theme from Zelda was played, and kicked major ass.

There was a small camera pointed at RJD2's drum pad (projected to the back of the stage on a white screen), which at first glance was blacked-out and painted with red stripes.. but it wasn't until he set up for a skit using a puppet of Mario, barrels, and samples from Donkey Kong, that I realized what the drum pad was decorated as (a Donkey Kong level). It was awesome as he used the drum pad to trigger the game sounds of Mario running, jumping over barrels, getting the hammer, and finally getting smashed by a barrel. Good times!

He played a song I hadn't heard before (I'm not a hardcore fan) that was composed almost entirely of samples played on his drum pad, such that the drum segments were about 2 bars each and could be mixed in a bunch of different patterns-- along with a few of the pads that played some really crunchy synth tones as the melody... it really made me think about how I can utilized my Korg padKontrol a bit more effectively (entertainingly, anyway).

So now that I have the "good" out of the way:

The bad: The humid: The suffocating: Hell, call it what you will, but Chop Suey SUCKS!

The show was clearly over-sold. There were so many people in the tiny venue that the door, which they couldn't keep open due to the noise ordinance, was getting steamy on the glass. It was so incredibly humid that it felt like I was breathing recycled air. It was the worst concert going experience I've ever had.. Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing RJD2, but holy hell Chop Suey is one of the worst venues ever! At a few points two of my friends had to step outside to get some fresh air during RJD2's performance.. and finally I just said 'screw this'.

I had seen the songs I wanted to see live, and felt sufficiently entertained to the point where I called the show off and we all walked back to the car to get the F out of there.

Not only was the venue itself void of oxygen, the opening act (which didn't get under way until 10:45.. 1 hour and 45 minutes after the doors opened) Dälek... didn't impress. Why is it that some groups, especially the 'hardcore' hip-hop style groups and artists feel the need to literally blow the ear drums out of concert goers? Is their music that lack luster and unpolished that they need to hide the short comings by turning up the volume to the point of distorting the output of the club system? I bet his music would've sounded pretty damn good (though repetitive from the first bar of music) had it not been so loud that we left during his last song to avoid injuring our ear drums ;P

The guy was entirely too fake on stage.. doing the mean fat-rapper-guy-stare-snarl-mean-faced-frowning-breathing-heavy-while-he-sweats-cause-chop-suey-sucks-sweaty-balls BS that is typical of that flavor of "hip-hop". The beats were pretty cool and some of it sounded VERY Massive Attack-like (I swear there was a hook lifted from one of their songs.. I wish I could remember how it went).

At one point, I could've sworn the guy was fat-breathing into the microphone.
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So a not-so-great opening act, a terrible venue, yet good music from the main act. It makes for an experience worth talking about at least. Maybe that's the angle that Chop Suey is going for-- a dive experience like none other.