Bright Nites: Adrian Lux & Audien & Webster Hall 7/20/13 (Review)

Posted by Middy on July 29, 2013

Capping off of one of the hottest weeks of the year in the metropolitan area, a couple thousand ravers packed into Webster Hall to see the talents of Audien, Adrian Lux and Mysto & Pizzi. It had been close to 100 degrees every day (nothing for most of you down south), but this is a crisis in the Northeast, causing it to be a sweltering temperature inside, especially if you were totally packed in with people around you. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the venue was sold out and in classic Webster Hall fashion, it was a hot, grimy, sweaty night that did not let up until the very last dripping body had left and the last booming thud of bass had echoed through its halls.

We arrived at Webster Hall a little after Audien had started at 12:30. After making our way through the somewhat maze-like structure that the main floor of Webster Hall (anyone who has been there, especially in the dark with a ton of drunk / rolling people bouncing around you, knows it can be tough to navigate) and grabbing a drink (cheers to the random guy with the open bar passing out drinks), we made our way upstairs.

The Connecticut native, Nathan Rathbun aka Audien was right at home in New York, playing his second show here in 3 months, last joining Dyro, Henrix and Hardwell on Governor’s Island over Memorial Day. As I noted then, because of his wide range of styles production-wise, he is able to go many different directions with his sets, even in an hour long set, where usually it is your job to pump put hits or your own tracks. He did play his own tracks like “Wayfarer” and “Iris“, but also gave NYC its first taste of his remix of Bruno Mars “Treasure”, which is to be released soon.

Right on cue, 1:30am rolled around and Adrian Lux took over for Audien to a raucous applause for both the work Audien had just put in and for what they expected to get from Adrian Lux. Because this was a tour designed around his recent single “Damaged”, he started kicked off his set with the single before launching into other tracks like Fedde le Grand’s “Raw”, his breakthrough track “Teenage Crime” and the Alesso remix of “If I Lose Myself”.

One could tell that the techy, clubbier side of Adrian Lux was trying to battle with the need to play big room hits to keep the crowd engaged. While tracks like “In My Mind”, “Million Voices” and “Like Home” all went down with a storm, others like the “Let’s Go” instrumental and “Sweet Nothing” seemed to miss the mark, showing that the crowd did not just want pop hits they could find on the radio. That clubbier side was found in 5, yes 5 Eric Prydz songs over his 2 hour set, plus Fehrplay’s “I Can’t Stop It” and the crowd ate those tracks up, at one point dancing so hard they shook the floor the climax of “Power Drive”.

The crowd continued raging well past three and though Adrian Lux was supposed to end his set at 3am, he continued until 3:30am though the crowd had not thinned out and could have gone for 2 or 3 more hours. By the end of the show, half of the people, guys and girls, in the crowd were shirtless, showing the effect of the heat, but also their carefree attitude that makes dance music so special. It was a hot, sweaty, messy night that left everyone at the end totally exhausted and beat, but also imprinted a memory they will remember for quite some time. Mysto & Pizzi took over for Adrian Lux and worked their big room magic until Webster closed and they finally kicked us out.

Adrian Lux came to a historic venue in New York City and sold it out as the headliner. That should not be understated. He put on a great show, mixing his own tracks with some crowd pleases and his own club instincts. While it would have been nice to see him try and be a little more adventurous, it was great to hear the direction he went with a large number of his selections and his control of the crowd was palpable. New York eagerly awaits his return and we have Audien on our list to see at Electric Zoo in just one month.

Tags: Adrian Lux, Alesso, Audien, Bright Nights, Henrix, Let Go, Mysto Pizzi, New York, night, Webster Hall