Baauer w/ Internet Daughter B2B Eytan Tobin

With the year ending The Hoxton had few opportunities left to go out in style, but when bad boy Baauer took over Friday. He certainly brought his unique flair, as he dropped one of, if not, the best set of the year doing everything at an incredibly high level; whether it was his hype work on the mic, constant mixing, impeccable track selection or his physical involvement in the music. The night was an all around success as locals Internet Daughter and Eytan Tobin went back to back for two hours doing a brilliant job getting the crowd ready for a masterful performance. I do however have one gripe before I get to breaking down the sets (the next paragraph, so skip it if you like for videos and links to tracks played).

Upon arriving I was greeted by two Heineken girls giving away plastic light-up wristbands; nice enough, who doesn't like free swag? Before I could even get to the bar I noticed my wristband went dark, and yes it had already died, oh well I'm not one for glow sticks or flashing lights anyway. Back at the bar, I asked for my usual tall can of Coors Banquet, to which the bartender replied "It's a Heineken night," okay, I'll get a tall can of that, "Nope." Well, do you have any tall cans? "Nope." Well, what DO you have? "Only Heineken." Fine I guess I'll have one. "$8, please." Now, the reason I always get tall cans is two fold, one, it's the best bang for your buck, and two, I have to go back to the bar less often. These kinds of corporate sponsored buyouts have to stop, there's no way it gets the company any good will, I'd think it's exactly the opposite. Sure if you usually drink Heineken you're happy but for everyone else who is now forced to drink it, I'd imagine they'd be at best mildly perturbed and at worst totally boycott Heineken. I know I'm not happy about it and certainly won't be rushing to get a Heineken again. People want and deserve choices, monopolies are never alright, even the board game is of questionable merit.

As you'll know if you've listened to any Bump In The Hump, I've been a fan of both Internet Daughter and Eytan Tobin for some time now, and it's no surprise that in my mind the two killed it, doing as good a job as one could hope for in opening for one of the biggest names in the electronic music scene. Let me explain why they were so successful, and why their opening set should be a blueprint for other opening acts. First of all the B2B nature of their set helped them move quickly between tracks but also gave them two pairs of eyes and ears for maximum creativity and crowd awareness. They did a great job pulling the crowd in with surefire crowd-pleasers like remixes of Travis Scott's "Antidote," Drake & Future "Jumpman," The Game's Skrillex collab "El Chapo" Gucci Mane's "Freaky Girl," Diplo, CL, OG Maco, and Riff Raff's "Doctor Pepper," and a moomahton remix of Justin Bieber "Sorry." Those kind of tracks always get the crowd involved and pave the way for more niche tracks like Ghost Mutt's "Oh Boy, Oh Baby," C.Z. "Ready," Pusher's "Basic." The crowd was putty in their hands when they dropped Sophie's "MSMSMSM" Flosstradamus and NGHTMRE's  new "Lighters Up" to huge reactions, however perhaps the best reaction came when they dropped the Vices' remix of Gallant's "Weight In Gold."

Internet Daughter and Eytan Tobin's success can be boiled down to their reading and play to the crowd, getting them hyped with a similar aesthetic to what Baauer was set to play, without stepping on his toes, all while leaving the crowd hungering for more. By the time Baauer came on stage, the Hoxton was packed to the gills and the crowd was absolutely bonkers; beyond ready to get ratchet.
Opening with Rustie's "Big Catzz" is a sure-fire-starter but headed into the second drop he teased us with Beyonce's "7/11" before pulling the carpet out from under us, mixing quickly as he did throughout his set. Early on he dropped RL Grime's "Scylla VIP," NGTMRE remix of Keys N Krates "Dum Dee Dum," TNGHT "Acrylics" which he mixed into his VIP of RL Grime and What's So Not's "Tell Me."Mixing tracks at a dizzying rate, he always stayed busy, spreading his time between dancing, mixing and jumping on the mic. He mashed up his collab with RL Grime "Infinite Daps" with "Gas Pedal." The Hoxton really got smoked out when he dropped his tracks: Flosstradamus "Rollup," and his collab with Just Blaze "Higher." Things got especially crazy to the end when he dropped both his "Yaow!" and "Harlem Shake," both of which had the whole crowd jumping. There were many shoulder rides, the majority to bros; one such shoulder rider, later in Baauer's set, was so turnt up that while shirtless was struggling to wave said shirt and not fall off his fellow bro. All in all it was a great night, one of many screw faces (bass faces) and "damn, what's it that?" were shared. The group of other DJs/producers (Pusher, Rezz, Meech, HRMXNY, Obeson, and David Matisse) on stage seemed impressed to say the least. I was most impressed with this nearly four minute section, that I think encompasses much of the way Baauer attacked his set; mashing up RL Grime's "Satisfaction" and "What A Shame," with Galantis "Runaway," Boombox Cartel's "B2U," and Smookie Illson's "Club Action."
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SUPPORT (INTERNET DAUGHTER): FACEBOOK SOUNDCLOUD TWITTER