I have so, so much to write about.
From Thursday, November 8th to Monday, November 12th, 2007, my life was a crazy whirlwind, but they were some of the best days of my entire life. I’ll need to break what I’m going to say into two blog posts, because I fear one would be too overwhelmingly lengthy. So… I’ll start… with Justice.
Thursday night, Molly, Ruby and I went to see Scenario Rock, Busy P and Justice live in Lyon. The concert was at Transbordeur, the same place were the last Erasmus party was. Knowing that it was a sold out show, and knowing that Transbordeur is enormous, we expected there to be an insane amount of people: there was. We were swallowed up by the crowd as soon as we walked in. But that didn’t stop us from making our way to the bar.
After a few vodka & redbulls, we heard Scenario Rock start up. They weren’t bad, but not great. In any case, we decided to make our way to the front of the stage anyway so as to be as close as humanly possible to Justice. Because I am a bawss and cared a lot about this, we got up to the very, very front of the huge crowd, which stopped at multiple metal gates. We stood on the bottom railings of the gates and proceeded to get absolutely rammed in the ass for the next two(ish) hours (I’m talking multiple bruises all over our legs and arms) but it was very, very worth it as soon as Justice started up. Not only did they do most of Cross, and Waters of Nazarath, but they also did some of their remixes that I love so much, such as NY Excuse by Soulwax, Skitzo Dancer (Scenario Rock), of course We Are Your Friends, etc.
So after the main show, and after everyone thought it was over, we all head out back into the main area where the bar is and such, and after about 20 minutes, we heard more fat beats. Basically there was an aftershow, which I think was Busy P’s main set, but Justice was very much a part of it also, on a smaller stage, with a more intimate crowd. This was better, for obvious reasons. I was dancing like crazy, obviously, and at one point I look up and see a few people dancing on stage: one of them was Ruby. Naturally, I make my way to the stage and she pulled me up there with her. While this wasn’t the first time I’d danced on stage with members of Ed Rec, it was still a really cool experience, looking out on the crowd, and being so close to the DJs. And then, it happened…
The security guards start kicking the commoners off the stage. I stealthily hide behind some people and a barricade. I somehow make my way behind the turntables. The security guards come over to the people surrounding me (photographers and Justice/Busy P’s associate DJs. They demand to see wristbands. Everyone shows them. I don’t. IT GOES UNNOTICED. Thus: for the next two and a half hours, I danced with, talked with, and drank with Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé (Justice), Pedro Winter (Busy P), and the 10 or so others who were cool enough to kick it with them. I sat down next to Xavier under the turntables (this is what he was doing for the majority of this set) and tapped him on his leather jacket and told him that I think he’s really talented and I appreciate his music. He thanked me. I told him that I saw an Ed Banger show in San Francisco in March and that it really impressed me. He said, “At the Mezanine?” and I said “Yes!” and in my head I was saying, “WOW. WOW WOW,” and he said “That show was really fun.” Then he offered me what I thought was a water bottle and I took a big gulp of it and, well, it wasn’t water. Then that was that and he went back to perusing through some CDs, but I still can’t really believe that I had a legitimate conversation with Xavier from Justice. And the best part was that it was all in French! I went back to dancing and I told the girl photographer that was kicking it there that my birthday was in two days and this was the coolest birthday present I could ever ask for. She said, “Perfect!” Then I started dancing around some of the other DJs and trying to get a better look at their equipment so I could tell Thom and Mikhail about it (I’m sorry to say that I remember nothing about the equipment) and I was, you know, breaking it down and one of the DJs was feeling my style and started dancing too and smiling and stuff and then we had a big conversation, throughout which I was given a lot more alcohol as well as some pats on the back, and found out that his name is Niko, he lives in Toulouse, he DJs with Justice and Busy P regularly, and he’s very happy that I got to come hang out with them. (I was too!) Then he said, “Do you want to see how it’s done?” (he kept switching back and forth with this other DJ, who was wearing a really cool shirt, just so it’s clear that we weren’t talking while he was mixing), and he brought me up to the turntables/synths/machines and let me watch closely. Then, somehow, magically, Busy P and I made eye contact. I tried to think of something cool to do. I came up with motioning at my wrist to show that I didn’t have a wristband and then doing the universal sign for “don’t tell anyone!” aka “shh!” …I’m not that cool under pressure. And I was drunk. But, he faked like he was going to alert security about it and then broke out of that and smiled at me and did the universal sign for “don’t worry about it!” aka swatting the air with your hand and tilting your head back while half smiling.
I was on Cloud 9. I truly felt like the coolest person in the entire world. It really made me miss Thom, and wish he could experience all that. (Personally, I think he will someday anyway, what with his getting asses on tha dance floor skillz). Eventually, after much more dancing, and much more talking with Niko, Ruby came up behind the stage. I decided to try and get her back there with me. That’s when it all went awry. As soon as I left where I was, just a little bit, to try and get her on there, the security guard stopped me, saw that I didn’t have a wristband, and told me to get off the stage. So we start going away… but then, I kind of stealthily slipped back there again. Unfortunately Ruby didn’t make it. But I was back. And then, this girl pulled me to right where Busy P was mixing and started dancing with me and stuff and I asked her if she was with any of these guys and she said yes and I asked her who and she pointed right at Busy P. So, I was dancing with Busy P’s girlfriend for a while, which enabled me to talk to Busy P himself a bit when he wasn’t pumping up the jams. Then, it turns out it was like 4:30 in the morning, and Ruby came back to the stage and reminded me that we had to be at the airport about 6 hours later. So, we tried to give it one more shot getting her back there, Busy P himself actually came out and talked to both of us about how he’d try to talk to someone, but I didn’t really expect him to, and I figured I’d had an amazing enough night. I said goodbye to all my new friends and thanked them so much for being so awesome, etc, and Niko gave me some cheek kisses and asked for my number. And then I got his. So who knows, maybe that won’t be the last time I get to hang out with those guys. But if it was… I’m a whole lot more than okay with it.
Me! and Niko is on the left.
Busy P and his girlfriend in the forground, Xavier in the back.
1 comment:
Was probably Busy's wife, not girlfriend. At least I hope so. I've since found out that he's married.
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