



We spent our New Years Eve grooving to a great show at Public Works in San Francisco. The tunes were completely dancable and accessible to the entire audience... why is accessibility important? Well, a common issue I take with DJ sets is that sometimes only 1/3 or so of the crowd really seems to be able to tell what the beat is, and be able to dance to it. In any case, here's a rundown of the show!





Venue - Public Works, San Francisco

This was my first time coming to Public Works and it was a nice enough venue. There were 2 floors open and plenty of room to move on the upper level. I ended up with a killer view right over the stage. It was a blast being able to watch the DJ's work their magic. I have a couple qualms with how some of the decorations were done. The ad for the show specifically recognizes H.E.X. and BAAAHS as the creative minds behind the "custom lighting installations". I'm unfamiliar with H.E.X., but I remember BAAAHS, or the Bad-ass Amazingly Awesome Homosexual Sheep, from their successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year. I didn't see the sheep, but I did see a pretty lame light set up behind the stage. There were 3 hexagons behind the DJ that had a honeycomb of color-changing lights. Sounds cool enough, right? But then you look closer and realize it has a sheet draped over the lights (to soften the light and make it look more interesting, most likely) clipped on with binder clips ! It just looked tacky. The confetti probably could have been done better, too. Two problems: the confetti guns were shot off downstairs (you can get a better spread by setting them off upstairs), and against the flow of a fan pointed back at the stage. Basically, the poor DJ's got the entirety of the "Confetti Countdown" back in their faces.





Acts - DJ Galen and Matthew Dear

Brandon and I entered PW at 11:20pm according to the handy clock projected onto the wall. Unfortunately, that meant we only caught the end of DJ Galen's set and then Dear's. Galen really had the crowd going by the time we had joined the dance floor and you could tell that everyone was enjoying themselves. He managed to keep them engaged and on their toes with interesting drops and clever looping. With about 10 minutes until midnight, Matthew Dear came out looking dapper as always The passover between the two was fun and they were both on stage for a bit, head bobbin' away. Dear's set relied on strong beats that varied only on occasion. He was the reverb master last night and revisited his signature bass-y "BOOM BOOM BOOM" at each drop. I could definitely hear the blending between Audion and Matthew Dear last night. He was obviously enjoying himself, and at times was smiling ear to ear while interacting with the audience. Having already seen a Matthew Dear DJ set, I kind of knew what I was in for, but he always manages to put on a great show.





Highlights

I'm a bit of a people-watcher, so clubs are great for me. In one night I no only found the doppelgangers for Jason Segel and Jake Gyllenhaal, but I also saw a large, sweaty, tattooed man-princess dancing like nobody was watching (he was my favorite).



And a little something extra to ring in the new year



