Slow Magic w/ Giraffage and Lindsay Lowend
Showbox, Seattle, WA
12.11.15
Red ambient light oscillates across the entire premise blending with the hypnotizing retro ceiling inside Seattle’s storied Showbox venue, a small group of teenagers congregates right in front of the stage. It’s not surprising to see people in L.E.D. tutus and gloves, some wearing illuminated masks that looks exactly like the headliner’s, Slow Magic. Touring with him are Giraffage and Lindsay Lowend, rounding out a lineup of producers featuring R&B electronica and pumping bass.
The SoCute! tour has brought many fans together throughout the country, and tonight Seattle gets a share of the experience. Seeing the fans’ excitement shine like the flashing lights on their garments, one can almost fathom the scale of entertainment that’s coming.
Walking casually towards his equipment, Lindsay Lowend opens the show with some drum and bass tracks. The music is enough to get people engaged and relaxed as their heads start bobbing with the beat. Lowend juggles various tracks, from hip hop remixes of Drake’s “Legend” to Seattle artist Sango’s “Me dê Amor”, mixing a good blend of original and popular tracks. In just a few minutes, the small group in front of the stage grows exponentially, as if Lowend is drawing in audiences from outside or magically duplicating people in the crowd. His set ends too soon with a slowed down tape stop and cheers from the crowd.
Before Giraffage starts his live set on stage, the entire crowd is greeted with three flashes of light and a wall of heavy fog pierced with laser lights. Giraffage stands in front of an unlit, pixelated screen. As he plays his own introduction, the screen lights up with with pictures of cats floating along with clouds behind a glitched, bright blue background. Staying consistent with the tour’s theme, the visuals suck people into an cute 2D sprite world. Giraffage plays his collaboration track with XXYYXX “Even Though” and a handful of other remixes such as Alice Deejay’s “Better Off Alone” with bombathon elements in it.
A recognizable ringtone creeps into the set, and one can correctly guess that Drake’s “Hotline Bling” remix is coming up. With cute and clever uses of emojis (such as having clap emojis pop on screen when there’s actually claps in the remix), Giraffage presents a well crafted package of digital entertainment to the crowd, all of which nicely aligns with the SoCute! tour theme. His live set ends with a glitched out effect.
As the tom drums appear on stage, the mysterious figure arises with his illuminated mask. Slow Magic starts the set with anticipation, rallying the crowd with his rhythmic abilities. His live drums definitely add an extra layer to his electronic music. It’s something only to be experienced in a live setting. Behind him, the screen has an outline of his signature mask in white that pulsates along with the beat. Slow Magic’s crowd engagement is very interactive as well. Unlike the other performers, he goes into the crowd with his toms while he plays one of his tracks, and you can feel the power emanating from him as he hammers through his set of songs, even standing on his toms in mid performance!
At the very end, Giraffage walks out, standing side by side with Slow Magic. Both with drum sticks in their hands, they start playing their collaborative track and the title of the tour, “So Cute.” The stage is pink and the lights seizure-inducing, but it is phenomenal seeing both artists performing their shared creativity. But it isn’t enough, so they’ve added in a Linkin Park and Smash Mouth remix as their final act. It is ultimately a very special performance, showcasing both current hits and a trip back to the past with unforgettable songs the audience grew up with.
Preview by Kai-Yao Lan
Photo by Sunny Martini
Slow Magic
Giraffage
Lindsay Lowend
