Drum and Bass (DnB) live at the Hoxton. Those words put together in that order are a recipe for an epic night of heavy bass lines, floor shaking and ground breaking energy radiating from the crowd. I literally mean the floor was shaking. Gotta love the Hoxton! The night started with Toronto’s own DnB veteran Markus Visionary who put on a praise-worthy performance as always. Make sure to keep it coming Markus, it’s always a pleasure to see you spin. Then out came Kove, a UK producer on the tour who was having as much fun up there as anyone in the crowd. He played a very diverse set, jumping from clean DnB, Deep House, flowing into some heavy Excision Dubstep samples. He finished his set off with a DnB remix of the song “Merry Christmas” in true December fashion. Then we went onto something I had yet to experience before the night of Decmeber 11, 2014. A live Drum and Bass band.
During the intermission I couldn’t contain my excitement as they were setting up the stage for the main attraction. The Stay Up With Me US Live Tour featured 25-year-old Belgian DnB producer Netsky on keys and programing. His backing band consisted of Michael Schack on drums, Babel on keys, the energetic hypeman Script MC and guest vocalist Billie who sang beautifully for two songs. Each individual musician brought incredible talent to the show and together had an unmistakable chemistry. This was their 19th stop on their 22 show tour that began in Victoria, BC.
They kicked off their set with Can’t Speak, a feel good track by Netsky vs Metrik Feat. Stealth. Then they kicked into some heavy, fast-paced bass with no remorse that had the crowd raging for the next hour and a half. Right up in front of the stage the intense crowd was jumping up and down, shoving and hugging, pushing and high fiving, loosing themselves to the music in a frenzy of sweat and body heat. Then when I turn around you’ve got the people towards the back giving themselves space to dance and feel the music with room to breathe, everyone enjoying themselves in their own way. They played tons of Netsky hits such as Puppy. Babel, on keys hit every note with precision; he even had an impressive solo at one point in the night. Script MC kicked it off by giving Toronto a massive shout out “It’s so nice to be in Toronto, one of the best places for Drum and Bass in all of North America!” before letting the musicians take it away. Script proved himself to be one hell of a hype man, keeping the crowd active all night with charismatic energy that didn’t let up for a second during the show. He had total control over the crowd getting them to chant along, “When I say Netsky, you say YO!”
The component of Drum and Bass that gives it that ‘always moving forward’ characteristic, relies heavily on the drummer, who was playeing his heart out. He would stand up while smashing the drums, at one point banging his head in aggression, pausing to give the crowd a toothy grin and then right back at it. All in all an incredible night, the highlight being when Billie was out on stage for Come Alive, a huge Netsky track released in 2012.
This was an absolutely epic night from the beginning to the end and when Netsky and his band left the stage and the lights went out, the crowd begged them for an encore. They came back out for not one, but two more tracks. If EDM isn’t your scene, give it a shot, because weather the DJ is up there spinning his heart out or you’re watching a full band, there is nothing like live DnB.
