Two months ago, students came together and voted for The Chainsmokers to play a free show for the students of the University of Denver. The Pioneers beat out schools from across the nation in an online contest presented by RECESS. RECESS reached out to Pioneer Ambassador President Constantine Johns, and he took it upon himself to get as many students as possible to participate in the event.
Last Wednesday, DU students reaped the rewards of their teamwork at Beta Nightclub in downtown Denver. The night was an important event for DU community, as it gave three students the opportunity to perform at a venue that has featured big names like Skrillex, Baauer and Benny Benassi. These students were contacted by the club’s promoters who wanted to showcase their skills in front of their peers. Despite some mishaps including one student Austin “Ehy Kay” Warren getting bumped from his slot last minute, the night was a fun, sweaty evening of local and mainstream electronic music.
At 9:30 p.m., a nearly empty dance floor was filled with the dubstep-influenced tunes of Adam “With Angels” Clark. Clark, a Denver local, has been playing music for the last 16 years. Despite his years of experience, this would be the first time he played in front of a crowd. With a mix of nerves and excitement, Adam took the stage to see that Beta was just beginning to let people in. Unfortunately, during his set, the venue was restricted to people with guest passes only. Thus, leaving anyone that either did not vote or was not on the list, out in the cold. While the music was fantastic and would been succeeded in warming up the crowd, it was a shame that few people got the chance to see it. Fortunately, Clark’s material can be found online, and there is no doubt that he will reappear in the Denver club scene some time soon
Nick “N!cky P” Perfido has found a home playing Saturday nights at the Crimson and Gold Tavern on DU’s campus. Practicing at local bars has given him the chance to improve and work at larger venues like the Gothic Theatre at last years Bright and Tight, where Sigma Chi Fraternity featured Kill Paris as a headliner. Coming from humble beginnings on the piano and drums, Perfido gained a feel for music that would become important as he transitioned from acoustics to electronics. Born 40 percent deaf in both ears, Perfido says that he mixes songs together by the feel of the bass. This fact is something that is quickly forgotten as he expertly fills the room with his Swedish house influenced beats and incredibly danceable tracks.
For Perfido, this is something he never imagined happening. “Since freshman year, I’ve been seeing shows at Beta. It’s always been a dream of mine to play here, so playing the main stage was totally surreal,” said Perfido. You can catch him at C&G every Saturday or check his SoundCloud for his mixes and original tracks.
After N!cky P left the stage, another DU student, Adam Snow, a junior from Washington D.C., took the stage and proceeded to slow it down a bit with his southern rap-inspired tunes. Snow, a producer who has worked with famous hip-hop artists from the likes of Lil B and Tayyib Ali, says he has been perfecting his craft since 2009. He has taken leaps and bounds from his early days of making music in his bedroom.
His hard work was ever apparent as he managed to fill his hour long set almost entirely with original tracks and remixes. “I was really excited to debut some new material for a crowd like this. I have never done a show with this mainstream appeal so it was a great experience,” said Snow. Since Snows’ style was a bit different from the other performers, it made for an exciting transition between N!cky P’s set and the headliner. Snow has some big projects in the works and will be performing with TEEB’s at 1-Up June 11.
After performing live on ABC’s 500th episode of “American Idol,” The Chainsmokers quickly boarded a plane from New York City to DIA. Following some delays, the New York-based duo of Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall took the stage around 12:30 a.m. The eager crowd of DU students erupted as the lights were replaced by the green glow of the stage. The house quickly set the pace for the evening, diving into their set with one of their unreleased edit of Avicii’s “Levels.” From that moment on, they very rarely took their foot off the gas, mixing their original tracks, big room house hits, and some Beatport top 40 that was well received by the crowd. To hear a sample of high energy music, you can switch on Sirius XM’s Electric Area at nearly any hour of the day, or go to their SoundCloud account.
As the sweat-drenched mass moved in unison to the thumping 128 beats per minute, The Chainsmokers teased in their super-hit “#Selfie” followed by dozens of cell-phone camera flashes as people enthusiastically posed behind giant Polaroid-style cut outs displaying the artists’ twitter username and #selfie across the bottom. After what seemed like one hundred drops crammed into a one hour window, the group left the stage thanking everyone for joining them on a fun-filled Wednesday evening.
As the dust settled and the exhausted students slowly fizzled out of the venue, a very exhausted-looking Taggart was anticipating some down time. “It’s been a crazy week doing press stuff and going from American Idol tonight to here has been hectic,” said Taggart. “After a whole week of doing press stuff, it was awesome to get a chance to rage with a great crowd at a great venue.”
