Adventure Club Fan Appreciation Pop-Up Show
Stereo Live
July 9, 2016
Adventure Club played three shows in Houston in one week, after the Montreal crew rolled back into the Bayou City Saturday as an unscheduled stop of their “Texas Round Up” tour. People would think that the city would be saturated by the sounds, but the want had not diminished. Notifications about the show swiftly made the rounds through social media, and the free but RSVP-required tickets released a few days after the announcement were gone in a matter of moments, some of them going on to be (wrongly) hocked on Craigslist for up to $75. However, statements made on Facebook stated the tickets were non-transferable or available for resale.
Packed into the venue and sweaty from opener Corporate Slackrs, the crowd chanted, “AC! AC! AC!” Christian Srigley and Leighton James obliged with a series of massive medley mixes of fan-favorite choruses spanning various EDM styles: “How Deep is Your Love” by Calvin Harris into “Jumpman” by Future then slamming “Febreeze” from Jack U, or Moksi “The Dopest” into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll” and then “Rhythm of the Night.” Don’t stop the beats.
The interesting thing about the Canadians’ sets is that most of them are made up of hyped-up, bass-dropping crowd singalongs, but then the brakes are slammed on the BPMs and the dancing stops and headbanging ceases. One example that is hard for me to understand is “Stitches” by Shawn Mendes. It’s difficult to make the connection and just doesn’t seem to work in the right way. Maybe it’s just the imagery of Mendes playing the acoustic guitar that pulls you out of the moment of Stereo Live in full rage.
It did work later on with a slowed-down version of “Crash 2.0” and again at a different point in the set with the remix of “Crave You,” as everybody raised their cell-phone flashlights to wave them in the air and sing the lyrics while a soft piano played in the background: “They stare at me, while I stare at you.” It was the perfect time for a man in a wheelchair in the front row to be lifted up and carried by the crowd.
Adventure Club also made ultimate use of the Stereo Live’s production equipment. The huge screen flashed the duo’s logos while animated scenes scrolled across behind it. The CO2 jets, confetti cannons, strobes, and colored lights constantly bathed the gyrating crowd as they positively complied with the countdown demand of “3, 2, everybody fuckin’ jump!”, broken down by syllables to the beat. Every music fan in town should experience a sold out show at Stereo Live at least once.
Our friends North of the border opened the night with shouting “We have so much love for you, Houston!” At the end of the night, there was no doubt that our city feels the same about Adventure Club.
Personal Bias: Not to diminish anyone else’s experience, but I have never seen any racially based practices at Clé. Two days before the reported dust-up at Hot 97.5 Ditch Fridays event with Steve Aoki I actually noticed the large amount of diversity at the club.
Overheard In the Crowd: “This is not my scene. I was dragged here by my friend. I’m leaving.” There were people clamoring for tickets to this event all over Twitter. It sucks that they took up the space of at least one person who wanted to be there.
So, How Was the Opener? Wow. Corporate Slackrs served as the best hype man that any EDM group could ask for, hitting the decks with some hard trap flavor. AJ Ironman climbed the venue’s table setup and began screaming, shouting and banging his head. He really set the stage for Adventure Club.
Zero-Sum Game: Nightculture had to cancel the originally scheduled Electric Foam Party with Liquid Todd vs. Surain to make room for this show. Information about rescheduling or refunds for this event was not readily available.
This article appears in Jul 7-13, 2016.
