Regardless of what the date actually is, it's summer in Southern California. Nonetheless, besides the Hollywood Bowl, luxury (or luxury-themed) hotels remain the only regular places to catch open-air music in town. Droog kicked off its 2012 rooftop series at the Downtown Standard with fabric resident Craig Richards and Glaswegian slo-mo producer The Revenge, who was enlisted to warm things up.
The first time I saw The Revenge was at the recently opened Corsica Studios in London in 2009. He played for literally four or five people all night, along with Mark E, while Prins Thomas thrashed away in the larger room. Some people might like to see their favorites in a small environment over a festival stage, but I'd rather the party be over attended than under attended in most circumstances. There are more people, more willing bodies and more possibilities, and that's the best you can hope for in a situation like this one: a willing, interesting crowd (not just a poorly promoted underground chin stroking situation).
The Standard's sound system sounds a lot better and louder, following last year's struggles, and a beer garden on the east side of the rooftop provided a more robust experience. For his LA debut, The Revenge offered up some really nice, rolling edits, previewing some cuts from the forthcoming final installment of the Instruments of Rapture series. The weather, although gorgeous by most counts, almost didn't cooperate as huge gusts of winds knocked over a patio umbrella, which almost impaled The Revenge as he played his last track. Luckily, the music kept on, and no one was hurt. The remaining umbrellas were quickly broken down as Richards took over, guiding the several hundreds of rapidly devolving punters into more aggressive and house-focused territory. All in all, a good omen for the upcoming months.
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