It's expected that an artist like Flying Lotus will draw a diverse crowd, but last night at the Hi-Fi was something else entirely.
Flashes of strobe illuminated a chiller with dreadlocks, dancing with a girl in thick spectacles, talking to a uni student with a backpack, drinking with a man in a bow tie. Where are we? What's the time?
When JPS took to the side stage (the main stage was reserved solely for the main act) the venue lights were still on. Nobody was even close to dancing and chatter was as loud as the music – this wasn't the DJ's fault, he was great. 8pm is just too early for most punters to be out of bed.
The atmosphere only really started heating up as Silent Jay took over, his enthusiastic and dramatic button pushing/ knob turning/ drop triggering moves added real energy to the set. The crowd responded and started gathering accordingly.
Om Unit showed off some bass rumble as the lighting guys warmed up the strobe. Punters weren't yet in full swing, but it wouldn't be long now. A dub version of 'Royals' provoked a few murmurs around the place – it wasn't immediately recognisable, but definitely a Lorde cover – and the beats narrowed into a more standard EDM formula. Well, not standard, but as middle of the road as would be heard tonight.
After staring in anticipation at a relatively idle translucent screen covering the main stage, it was a relief to finally see a silhouetted figure appear. Is it Flying Lotus? Nope, just a roadie setting up a laptop. Oh wait, no it is Flying Lotus! His stage setup tonight is the 'Layer 3' concept wherein the performer stands between two screens which both catch separate visual projections. The projections on the front screen are triggered live by one visual artist, and the back screen by another – the result is a super psychedelic, multidimensional, audiovisual experience with a silhouetted Flying Lotus at the very centre. It is truly radical.
Light exploded in and out of the centre point, spherical shapes circled the silhouette, the light and audio synched perfectly. The crowd cheered with every dramatic visual change. The crowd cheered during 'Zodiac Shit'. The crowd cheered when Flying Lotus became Captain Murphy for 'Between Friends' and 'Mighty Morphin' Foreskin'. But when the crowd occasionally cheered on the beat and Fly Lo muted it so he could hear who he was working with – that was awesome.
Whenever a voice projected from the silhouette, the crowd fell silent. The highlight came when Fly Lo sang a capella, and suddenly appeared from behind the curtain to rap some lines along to a steady clap. This guy's got it all. And, is related to John Coltrane. Yep.
