June, 2012
With performances by Django Django, Best Coast, Citizens!, Friends and more.
There are always several directions a stage invasion can go, fortunately this one went very well indeed. First off, the crowd had been invited by none other than Santigold herself during her enormous breakthrough hit, ‘Creator’. A full on party ensued with what seemed like half the crowd busting their best moves on stage trying to keep up with Santi and her spectacular dancers. The rest of her set included other classics from 2008’s eponymous ‘Santigold’ like ‘L.E.S Artistes’ and great new ones like this year’s big hitter, ‘Disparate Youth’. There was also a selection of her best guest spots like the incendiary ‘Hold The Line’ by Major Lazer with it’s unmistakable beat and relentless energy.
It all started several hours earlier with Brooklynites Friends who tapped in to New York’s rich mix of quirky pop music, channeling the spirit of bands like Tom Tom Club to create a good time party sound with an edge. Citizens! were next up, offering a European take on a similar sound with tracks like ‘Reptile’ getting hips moving across the already packed club.
Best Coast have taken the world by storm with their new album and it was easy to see why. Their unique brand of pop music brought rays of California sunshine that the UK summer has been severely lacking with mass sing-alongs to ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘The Only Place’ and many smiling faces.
Django Django’s modern British psychedelia is a unique proposition and they showcased it to devastating effect at Represent. Marrying an ear for a strong hook with a driving rhythm section and a whole host of otherworldly synth effects they took The 100 Club by storm. They clearly relished the chance to play a small club in fact they said as much, telling that this show was a great chance to play a different environment after a summer of festivals. The show was also beamed out to thousands of fans on Converse TV.
That left only Santigold, her DJ and those dancers to rock the crowd until closing time, which, of course, they did.
Stay tuned to facebook.com/converse for updates.
