DJ Shadow has been one of my favorite Musician / Producer / Turntable guys for a really long time. I have had his first album Endtroducing and his second album The Private Press on regular rotation for almost eight years now. Listening to DJ Shadow is like hearing the greatest most entertaining hip-hop beats of all time, the beats are so good that putting any type of rhymes over these beats would be a damn travesty. I am so enthralled by the mood and complexity of both these albums that I have seriously been thinking about getting Mr. Shadow’s real name tattooed on my forehead.
I had always really wanted to see DJ Shadow live and my wish was granted when he came to The Depot back in November of 2010. I really had no idea what to expect and when he walked out on stage and immediately hid in the ten foot bubble known as the “Shadowspehere”. When thing fired up, I almost had an aneurysm, the three dimensional musically choreographed images teamed with Shadows uncanny ability to mix his jams live was one fo the coolest shows I had ever seen.
So, I was more than delighted when I heard that the Shoadowspehre was making its triumphant return. The Bearded Gentlemen showed up just in time for opener Mophono DJ Centipede a.k.a. Mophono. This dude was legit and his brand of break beat sample based tunes was great. At point he had some sort of bass rhythm going on that was penetrating my sternum and jackin up my heart rhythms. Good stuff, plus he was handing out free stickers at the show and everybody loves stickers.
After a fairly long and entertaining set from Mophono, DJ Shadow also known as Josh Davis strolled out on stage and before ducking into the innocent looking white orb, he took some time to thank the venue for hosting and the crowd for showing up (seemed like super genuine dude).
Then the chaos began. As soon as the house lights dimmed the world of complex beats and seizure inducing visuals took over. After having already seen the Shadowsphere live I was a bit worried that I was going to get the same exact show again, but I should have known that Shadow’s infinite coolness would never try to sell someone the same show twice. While, the visuals were some what similar from the first the show the mix was certainly unique, DJ Sahdow has this amazing ability of seamlessly mixing and blending his whole discography in a million different ways, but still leaving bits pieces of the original song recognizable so the audience is able to follow a long. The highlight of the show was hearing his cacophonous rendition of an old school Unkle cut featuring Thom Yorke “Rabbit in Your Headlights” . When this song and music video came out back in the day I was obsessed (seriously if you haven’t seen this video click the pink link) it was really cool to hear Shadow put a new experimental upbeat twist to a favorite jam. The perfomance was spell-binding from start to finish with Shadow stopping in the middle of his set to thank us again for watching his show and making a point emphasizing the realness of his music and how much it meant to him to be able to perform it for us.
The Shadowsphere was just as good if not better the second time around. It’s amazing to watch the visuals coincide with the music, but the second aspect of the show that is just as entertaining is when Shadow turns the sphere around so you can see inside the orb and watch him work his magic on his magnificent electronic machines. It’s refreshing to go to an electronic based show and actually be entertained by that artist performing their music.
If I had my way I would go watch the Shadowsphere every night seven days a week. I highly recommend catching DJ Shadow if he ever comes to your town. It will expand your mind both aurally and visually, while also exposing you to one of the greatest Musician / Producer / Turntable guys that has ever existed and I am super stoked to show DJ Shadow my fresh new Josh Davis forehead tat next time he returns to Salt Lake.
