Planning a night time concert is very similar to programming a club set. You have to mix new music and classics in a way that it keeps the crowd entertained while gradually introducing them to new music. With a crowd of predominantly mobile DJs, this is definitely a challenge. The lineup for the evening was exceptional with a great mix of pop superstars (Akon, Michelle Williams, Cyndi Lauper, Chris Willis), classic dance artists (Katrina, Sa-Fire, George Lamond,) brand new hitmakers (Lady Gaga, Tami Chynn, Daniella) dance floor favorites (Kim Sozzi, Jenna Drey) and even tv stars (Jo de la Rosa.) A good DJ also drops in surprises and the crowd was treated to special appearance by Adult film superstar Savana Samson and WWE Diva Lilian Garcia.
Hosted by N-Sync’er Joey Fatone, the energetic show also featured sets by VJs who pushed the limits of the Pioneer DVJ equipment – mixing tv and film footage with hiphop and pop music videos. Highlights were 2nd Nature’s tribute to Bernice Mac and Roonie G’s comical Indiana Jones/Dark Knight themed intro. As a VJ, it was really cool to be exposed to this style of video mixing – the focus was more on scratching and dropping cool clips rather than beatmixing and overlaying – that kind of in your face, live mashup was really cool and had the crowd jumping around.
It’s hard to choose a highlight from the evening because there were simply so many but with the overwhelmingly positive response to my top 10 from yesterday – here is a top 5:
1. Michelle Williams jumping off stage and joining the crowd – while singing!
2. George Lamond saying on stage “Play my record, Rob Miller” – directed to the program director of WKTU.
3. Tami Chynn performing “Hypnotico” (which I hope will followup her current single “Frozen”)
4. Savanna Samson referring to Promo Only as “Porno Only”
5. Katrina singing “They Don’t Know” – a cover of the Kirsty MacColl/Tracy Ullman classic that I will be adding to my sets
It’s very rare that I stay at a party until closing (a testament to the incredible event) but before I knew it, two am rolled around and the lights came up. As much as I would have loved to have ran over to Boogie Nights to check out the “I Heard It On the Dancefloor” party with Amber Rose, The Trammps and Randy Jones – the reality of a 6am flight followed by an 8 hour work day and a 7 hour DJ shift made that impossible. (This is also why I am posting this wrapup on Thursday rather than Tuesday – sorry for the delay.)
Postscript: KTU added George Lamond's record the next day.
Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008
