This past weekend was no ordinary weekend in Chicago, let’s make that clear! With the likes of 12th Planet and KOAN Sound focused solely on tearing our hometown to shreds, Concord Music Hall was abuzz with excitement and anticipation last Saturday night. Having already seen my fair share of performances at this relatively new venue (some better than others), my expectations were fairly high for this particular event. But I also had my reservations. Could there be another notorious power outage? Or perhaps a second ceiling collapsing incident? And would either of the two big-named artists play any of their original tunes? Well, fortunately for everyone involved, the entire show went off without a hitch!

I made sure to arrive at the venue shortly before KOAN Sound was set to take the stage. Being pretty familiar with the Bristol-based duo, I had a strong inclination that they would be nothing short of incredible. After watching them play various genres of EDM (much of which were their own productions) for an hour plus, I could barely process the spectacle unfolding in front of my eyes. Glitch hop, neurohop, dubstep, this funked-out bass fest was pure joy for everyone involved. Next up on the decks was the man of the hour, aka 12th Planet! I’ve had plenty of memorable moments at this producer’s shows in the past, however, during the last couple of years I haven’t enjoyed his live sets nearly as much as I used to. Well, that was all about to change. For the first 30-45 minutes, he played nothing but grimy dubstep (mostly riddim)! Following that segment, 12th shifted into an electro interlude for about 20 minutes and then busted out a little bit of everything else EDM to cap off the night. All in all, it was pretty unbelievable!

It’s obvious that the venue, promoters, and artists all played an integral role in helping things run smoothly throughout this magnificent evening. Concord Music Hall is definitely starting to make a name for themselves as one of the go-to venues for popular EDM acts in the city of Chicago. Anybody out there who knows dubstep will definitely be present for FuntCase on May 31st and/or Zomboy’s The Outbreak Tour (featuring openers Cookie Monsta & Eptic) on July 5th. Get your tickets now, before it’s too late!
 
All photos taken by: Vladimir Zaytsev

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