Friday night, The Wiltern was the host to the latest #30DaysInLA show – this one headlined by fast-rising downtempo electronic duo Bob Moses.
I’d been to the famed Koreatown art-deco venue at least a dozen times but had never made it there early enough to get into the front pit of the GA part of the crowd.
My friends and I got there right before Bob Moses was to go on and tried our hand at getting into the middle of the crowd. We were sort of spilling over into the aisle and someone from The Wiltern’s staff asked us if we wanted to go to the front. Well yes, we would. So we followed her to the back and got some pit wristbands and minutes later were right at the front of the pit in front of the stage. What a time it was to be alive.
One thing about Bob Moses – holy smokes these guys bring out the babes. Yeah, we live in LA. But this crowd especially felt as though it was packed by models. Just beautiful people everywhere.
Bob Moses doesn’t stray too much from how they sound on record from how they do in their live performance. There was one point during their show where they really let the drummer jam out for a bit and it was probably the highest energy point of the night.
I’m a big fan of Bob Moses – they border on the more dance-y side of Darkside at their best. One thing I noticed throughout their set – it sounds to my ears like they really borrow a lot of rhythms from Chris Isaak. Just listen to “Tearing Me Up” and tell me it doesn’t sound similar to “Wicked Game” – perhaps Isaak’s biggest hit. They closed their set with a one-two punch of that song and “Too Much Is Never Enough” – which ALSO has a very “Wicked Game” vibe to it.
“Tearing Me Up” is a mega-hit though. It was the one song of the night that everybody seemed to know all the words to. It’s hard to get people to commit that much to the sort of brooding brand of electronica that they play, but they did a good job of inspiring that from the packed house.
While filing out of the Wiltern, our noses caught the strong smell of the street dog vendors outside the doors. This was despite being at least 30 yards deep inside the venue still. My stomach thanked me in the morning for passing on those – but my ears were thankful I didn’t pass on Bob Moses on Friday night. Well done, #30DaysInLA.
I wasn’t there, but unfortunately singer-songwriter Harrison Brome was unable to perform. Berlin house DJ Mike Shannon played both his set time and Brome’s — nearly a two-hour set.
Photos courtesy of Red Bull Sound Select
