Site Meter Pop Culture Buzz » Blog Archive » Concert Review - “POP Festival” Bill Graham Civic Auditorium: Kaskade, DJ Dan, Infected Mushroom 3/31/07

Concert Review - “POP Festival” Bill Graham Civic Auditorium: Kaskade, DJ Dan, Infected Mushroom 3/31/07

by

47b7da25b3127cce8285db82ad4b00000025108ecmw7jyyag.jpg

I am a huge dance music fan. I love Burning Man, Halloween parties and the many different kinds of techno inspired events that take place here in the S.F. bay area. I went to my first “rave” here in 1993 when I was still in high school, it was called “Cyberfest”. I saw the progression of dance music, underground parties and raves evolve at a fast pace. It has been a long time since I have been to a full fledged rave like the one I went to this past weekend called “POP” with Kaskade, Infected Mushroom, DJ Dan and Benny Benasi. At the end of the night I was calling this event “babies first rave”. 5 minutes into the show some kid felt it necessary to tell me this was his first rave…..ahh, how cute.

47b7da25b3127cce8285d8466c2600000025108ecmw7jyyag.jpg

As soon as I entered the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium I was overwhelmed by the blinking pacifiers, glow sticks, candy ravers and costumes. Secondly I noticed how fucking young everyone was at the event. The crowd looked like it was full of high school kids. Being 31 years old, I really wasn’t expecting to feel so old, but these kids were still wet behind their ears. The boys looked like Abercrombie & Fitch models, the girls looked like jail bait. And after many hours of “cruising” I couldn’t find one cluster of gay boys or lesbians. This was a young, straight event and I was in for a night of silliness and confusion.

47b7da25b3127cce8285d87bed2b00000025108ecmw7jyyag.jpg

The element of gangster and hip-hop lovers at this concert confused me, is electronic music now for the “thug” types too? The break dancers and dance circles were full of hip-hop gangster wannabees and that was something I had never seen at the early raves of the 90’s. I am glad to see that even though the culture is changing as far as style and influences, that the “good vibes” and “brotherly love” were still abundant. I didn’t see any fights or sexist behavior, it was a bunch of adults (kinda) acting silly and having fun. It would have been nice to see more gay boys (slutty gay boys) but all in all it was a fun flashback to the old times.

47b7da25b3127cce8285dabd6cdc00000025108ecmw7jyyag.jpg

Kaskade came on like a wave, within 5 minutes the crowd grew in size in the room he was spinning in. He played a huge set and kept the house diva beats going, I was in heaven. Kaskade played some of his all time favorites like “Everything”, and some new gems “Sorry”, “Stars Align” and “Be Still”. But the best part of his set was the weaving of pop songs like Madonna’s “Jump” towards the end of his performance. The crowd lost their shit. I have to say his charisma and style were meshing well with the dancers and the over all vibe. And for all of you DJ whores out there, he is hot as hell. Really though, Kaskade is so good looking it was painful! I had a great time and got to hear my all time favorite DJ from S.F. spin fun records that didn’t try to be anything more than the dance tunes they were.

47b7da25b3127cce8285c5e1ad2700000025108ecmw7jyyag.jpg


Leave a Reply


About Pop Culture Buzz

Pop Culture Buzz.com is where to go to get your daily fix of the newest movie, music, concert, television and DVD reviews! Watch music videos, movie clips and trailers, concert footage and listen to streaming music! Just check the pop culture categories below! Pop Culture Buzz.com is a great place to kill time while at work and now Pop Culture Buzz.com is on MySpace! Add Pop Culture Buzz.com to your MySpace page and watch video and read the hottest gossip from your profile! Hear the buzz on Pop Culture Buzz.com!!

Pop Culture Buzz Author(s)

Entertainment & Music Channel Posts

  • Liveblogging the Oscars: Act III
    Okay, we're in it for the long haul, gang. Not much longer now. Awww, I kind of like the In Memoriam montage. And I like Queen Latifah. I feel like these two things make some kind of a weird [...]
  • Liveblogging the Oscars: Act II
    Jessica Biel, why are you telling me about the scientific Oscars? Isn't this sort of akin to the time Denise Richards played a nuclear scientist in that really bad James Bond movie? I...think [...]
  • Liveblogging the Oscars: Act I
    Well, here we are. The Superbowl of the film year, only with more sequins and fewer beer commercials. Are we excited yet? This year, in an attempt to counteract the downward ratings spiral [...]
  • Steve Irwin's Birthday
    On this date in 1962, Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin was born -- no doubt in little tan shorts. I have no idea how he got the nickname "Crocodile Hunter" as he didn't actually kill the crocs he [...]
  • Review: Pride and Glory
    OK, so I am a HUGE fan of cop dramas for some reason. I don't really know what the attraction is but if there are cops, I'm there. So as soon as I saw the badge in the previews for this movie I knew [...]
  • Greatest Rock Song?
    Of all the classics coming from the vault we call "Rock-n-Roll", ya can't get any more genuine than Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone. The song was crowned by (of all places) Rolling Stone magazine [...]
  • INXS Loses Fortune
    It was the ultimate in rags-to-riches stories for the new INXS lead singer, J. D. Fortune. He rose from living in his car to superstardom as their new vocalist on the VH1 reality TV show ‘Rockstar: [...]
  • Crop Circles Are Pretty
    The argument over the origin of crop circles is still going on, despite many human artists coming forward and showing how they did it. Some simple crop circles do seem to be made by the wind. Many [...]
  • Judd Apatow's "Funny People" Movie Trailer w/ Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan is Another Winner!
    Judd Apatow has been behind some of the most real to life and hilariously over the top comedies of the past few years; "Knocked Up", "40 Year Old Virgin", "Superbad", "Pineapple Express", [...]
  • Robin Thicke's "Sweetest Love" Music Video is Sexy
    I am a huge fan of Robin Thicke and his soothing R&B style. Not only is he a major dream boat but he has the voice to back it up. I would even say that he has bigger an dbetter singing chops [...]

Hot Off The Press