Julian Jordan Makes his New York Headline Debut at Santos Party House 6/22/12 (Review)

Posted by Middy on July 2, 2013

It had been a long couple days. Two days before I had attended the Zedd show on Pier 84 and its ensuing festivities, my 22nd birthday was that Friday (it all goes downhill from there kids) and Julian Jordan made his New York City debut that Saturday night at Santos Party House. Going in, I had no expectations from him, since he is only 18 years old, and has only been thrust into the dance music spotlight recently because of a select few productions and a strong marketing team.

Upon arriving at the club at around 1am, I was met with a nearly half-full house and filling up, and the opener still holding down on decks. Julian Jordan was surveying the scene from an elevated platform to the left with a rider largely untouched. The openers played some second tier hits until around 1:15, when Julian Jordan came down and took over the decks during “Follow You”.

At just 18, the Dutchman was well taller than me at 6 feet and his stature showed in the booth with an imposing command of the space around him. His poise behind the decks denoted a seasoned veteran, but his tour on the edm circuit is only just beginning. That is the new reality in dance music, where young guys are being trained and molded into marketable artists who can be put in front of a crowd of 500 or 10,000 after two productions and be ready for it because they have been trained for it. They are mature beyond their years and I know at 18, there is no way I could do anything like that. Two quite drunk VIPs who did not know Julian Jordan’s name to the left right of the booth offered rather forcefully a shot to him and Julian Jordan refused graciously, showing just another sign of his professionalism.

Going into the night, I had a general idea of what type of tracks he was going to play, though not totally sure what tracks he would play and how. His skill behind the decks was quite impressive as he used all three of the CDJs easily and moved practically flawlessly between tracks throughout his entire 2-hour set. He mixed in trap with heavier electro and some big room house. While, not all of the selections were the most inventive, it was his job to get people dancing and he did just that. Though selections like “Cannonball”, “Million Voices”, “Toulouse” and “Gangsta” (because he played “Dear New York”) were a bit easy, it was great to hear “Redux”, the aforementioned “Dear New York” early on, and “Booty Bounce”.

The tall Dutchman of course mixed in his own selections like the recently released collab with TV Noise “Childish Grandpa”, “BFAM” and his massive single with Sander van Doorn “Kangaroo”. The two hour club slot maintained a high level of energy all the way through and was rather relentless until the very last kickdrum had subsided a little past 3am.

Santos Party House is a clubbers club, without any extra frills or added visual displays, besides some lights on the ceiling. It is about the customer and their experience with each other. That puts the onus on the DJ to deliver a well-crafted set that the crowd will enjoy and Julian Jordan did just that. For his first headlining show in New York City, it was impressive to see how he showed no nerves and took it like any other gig. While the selection could have been a little more innovative, he did his job and did it well and Julian Jordan should be on your list of guys to see in the future.

Tags: club, Dear New York, dj, house, Julian Jordan, music, new york city, Santos Party House