Last year's Global Dance Festival was only two days. This year, it came in a package of three- courtesy of the addition called Thursday. Thursday is an interesting concept, you know, because tomorrow i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin'). We-we-we so excited. Next comes Saturday. But today i-is Thursday, Thursday. Which means, oh. I don't know- Kid Cudi, Empire Of The Sun, BIG Gigantic, Sam Adams, Foodchain, HOTTUB– the list goes on. Needless to say- It was a pretty good way to kick off the festival. Thursday's show was exceptional, and the headliners, Kid Cudi and Empire Of The Sun absolutely captivated their audience. It was my first time seeing most of the artists that played that day, and I was extremely impressed by all of them.
BIG Gigantic kicked off the final three shows on the main stage, Saxophone a' blazing and energy beams a' flying. To nobody's surprise, BIG Gigantic put on an excellent performance. Their electronic + saxophone + awesomeness trifecta is a 1-2 punch with a kick at the end that will knock you off your rocker. It was the performances like theirs that made you look down at your $80 ticket and think to your self "Yes, this was definitely worth it."
After Big Gigantic finished their performance, the stage went black. A subtle rumbling began to flow from the speakers as a deep voice narrated, telling us to get ready for the party, to have fun, to- Well to be honest, by this time I was so entranced by the stage that I stopped listening. The stage was flickering, each time getting brighter, and the flickers getting more frequent. Then, as if from arrival by teleportation, Kid Cudi skip-stomped onto stage from the left. I had never seen Cudi live before that night, and it was one of the best performances by a Hip Hop artist I have ever seen. He dabbled in some old goodness, dropped some of dat new new and even did a Jimmy Hendrix cover (Which, by the way, was extraordinary). Some of my friends thought it was the best performance of the night. I'm not going to say what my favorite performance was on that night- nor will I proclaim that about any other performance- but I will say that Kid Cudi was better than I could have imagined. Near the end he stated that he wants to come back to Red Rocks in the future- that it was the "Coolest place" he's performed at. I have no doubt when he returns it will be with a warm welcome.
The headliners of the night, Empire Of The Sun, were hands down the weirdest, most outrageously odd band I've ever seen live. Their show made Circ de Soleil look like the evening news. I was completely sober, and I felt like I was on acid watching them. Bringing me to an Aztec-alien-imagination-land, I couldn't of asked for a better performance. Empire Of The Sun blew my mind, both visually and audibly. Their costumes live up to their reputation. Their dancers are amazingly beautiful and astoundingly odd. Their performance is riveting, and captivates you from the start to finish. As an Indie music connoisseur, Empire Of The Sun put together a performance unlike anything one could expect and quenched my Indie thirst. It was excellent. It was unmistakably original and unique. It was Empire Of The Sun, capping off the excellent debut of our dear friend Thursday.
Download: Empire Of The Sun – We Are The People
Global Dance Festival – Day 1 Recap
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHUboTC7A8g[/youtube]
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