Gorgon City’s last stop of their Escape tour was at Avant Gardner this past Saturday. They took over the Great Hall for the night and it was the brightest I’ve ever seen the venue. After seeing them premiere the album in Brooklyn earlier this summer, we couldn’t help but be excited for the live show. Openers WILL OB and Hotel Garuda provided a more laidback transition into the main act, with the Hotel Garuda sending the energy towards the end of his set. He played his newest song, “One Reason,” and a sped up and highly danceable version of “Blurry Eyes” – his last song with Manila Killa before the two decided to amicably end the duo. By 11:20PM and during the changeover, fans were more than ready to dance with Gorgon City
The members of Gorgon City walked confidently onto the stage at about 11:30PM, waved to the crowd, and took places with their keys, percussions, and drums (much more detailed Twitter thread here). The crowd was generally older and whiter than it was for Porter Robinson during Halloween, but that also meant it was much less crowded, which allowed space for people to dance more freely.
Starting from the intro, Gorgon City had the crowd jumping and grooving to the vocal house thanks to their strong vocalists wearing matching burgundy clothes, Chenai and Josh Barry. Their movements were purposeful, their singing deeply emotional, and bright personas helped liven the crowd even more.
As I was watching the visuals go by, I couldn’t help but feel slightly entranced. They were vibrant, fast moving, and creatively repetitive to where you could get lost in them. The combination of excellent visuals, clearly audible singing, and solid track selection is what really made the show so enjoyable.
As the show came to what felt like a sudden close, Matt and Kye gave thanks to their entire production crew, management, team, singers, and parents that showed up for all the work devoted to putting on a quality show every night on the tour. The duo ended the night with “Imagination” and “Ready For Your Love,” which was accompanied by big black balloons showering the room for the encore. It was great to be playful with other fans trying to spike balls as far as possible (or onto the stage).
After finishing their North America and UK tour, the boys are now back home enjoying some much deserved down time before they share more of their new and beloved sounds with fans.
Hello from the Magnetic editorial desk.
