Echostage was all sold out Saturday for Excision and his 2014 tour. Part of a ton of dates tracking all over North America, Excision brought a wild video and lighting installation, as he usually does, with a serious lineup that included Dirtyphonics and Ill Gates.
First up, Ill Gates played a great and diverse set, opening with one of my favorites, “Expanded“. He also projected cool live video of his hands using the different controllers he has with him, cut in between other random cool video like the skate video trailer for the Girl and Chocolate video Pretty Sweet.
The biggest moment of the night was when Excision’s stage extravaganza was unveiled to everyone in Echostage. His intro is a fusion between incredible and recognizable sound design that pairs perfectly with the visuals of the giant Excision machine warming up.
Excision incorporated the Destroid logo several times in the visuals of the giant stage, animated it to almost feel alive. Clawing around during the show, it was always accompanied by more cheering from the crowd who were all fans of the super group, especially when it was played with one of their killer songs like “Put It Down“.
Excision does bring some serious speaker power with him, advertising for the tour 150,000 watts of sound for this tour, but the next day when a fan tweeted she couldn’t hear the bass like she could at other shows, Excision responded:
@_Neighb cops/venue wouldn’t let us bring in more than half of our system 🙁
— Excision (@Excision) March 23, 2014
Excision did surprise everyone when he began playing “X-Rated” and a giant dinosaur came out on stage, dancing around while everyone in the place tried to get their own picture of the Excision T-Rex on stage.
Dirtyphonics directly followed Excision, and despite playing a pretty late set (didn’t start until around 2 am) they sure didn’t lose the momentum from the crowd. The distinct Dirtyphonics style fired the house up to another level with their hard-hitting tracks, and the two of them only took a break to come to the edge of the barricades and cool the crowd down with squirt guns.
Excision shows are known for being a feast for all the senses, and this one really raised the bar, again.