A rave is the only place where it might actually be considered cooler to dance by yourself than to dance with a partner. To be honest, I haven’t been to a full-blown warehouse rave like this since I was 17 years old, and for a reason. Raves are sweaty. They’re full of weird people, high on who knows what, spinning glowing things all around to music that’s way too loud and all sounds the same to me. But I decided to venture out of my old-man closed-mindedness about raves to try it out once more. And it couldn’t have been on a better night.
The first thing you think of when somebody says Salt Lake City probably isn’t raving. But, believe it or not, SLC’s got a pretty reputable rave scene. The company that threw this particular event is called V2, and they regularly throw massive raves/dance parties. Oh, and they have their own Go-Go dancers (you totally just clicked on that link, perv). Over the past few years, they’ve hosted numerous raves that have included showings from basically everybody who’s anybody in dance/rave/house music: Benny Benassi, Deadmau5, The Crystal Method, Tiesto, etc. In other words, V2 knows how to throw a party.
However, this night was particularly good, because it also marked the first event to be held in Salt Lake City’s newest venue, The Complex. And what better way to pop the proverbial cherry of a new venue than with a sweat-on-the-walls rave? I mean, I usually do my ecstasy on nights that aren’t Thursday, but who am I to tell people how to do their drugs? Trip balls away, my raving friends.
Speaking of ravers, unless you’re one of them or closely related to one of them, you sort of forget they exist until you hit the Sahara tent at Coachella or find yourself at your local rave. It doesn’t really matter who you are. If you want to be a raver, you can. There are no prerequisites; it’s for any who care to join. Consequently, The Complex was full to the brim with Juggalos, frat boys, hacky sack hippies, and Hot Topic poster girls as the first DJ took the stage at 9:30. He was just some local schmoe. Nothing to write home about.
And usually, that’s okay. But when you give that same schmoe an hour behind the table and then let two more just like him do the exact same thing, it’s not okay in my eyes. Rusko didn’t go on until precisely 12:02, which didn’t sit well with the sober people in the audience. In between ear-splitting bass cuts, you would unequivocally hear chants of “Rusko!” or “Stop playing shit!” The kids that were high, however, had no qualms with the endless wall-bumping beats. They danced for hours on end before Rusko even went on and then throughout his set. Ravers have the superhuman stamina of thoroughbred racehorses, I swear. I don’t know. Maybe it’s the drugs.
At any rate, Rusko did go on, and he did burn the place down (metaphorically, of course. I think the building’s probably pretty up to code, it being brand-new and all). He even got the tired dancers off the walls and out of their sitting positions to come play with him. And how could they say no? With club hit and Dirty Projector Amber Coffman-featuring track “Hold On”, it was almost as if the UK Dub aficionado was beckoning to the crowd, daring them to dance.
And this fest of surprisingly fun and danceable music continued on song after song, without ever dragging, which is quite a compliment for a Dub DJ. The set was largely comprised of his latest (and only) real studio album, OMG!, which satiated the crowd’s thirst perfectly. It was a blessing in disguise to have three mediocre DJs play right before Rusko. It really highlighted how much better he really is and why his dance music is popular and your friend’s buddy’s older brother’s isn’t. Rusko’s got charisma, and he’s just got more talent and vision than your average DJ. And it shows in his music. He samples more precisely, cues beats more accurately, and pushes the limits of what can conceivably be done behind a turntable and a MacBook.
This is usually the part where we’d add a setlist for the show, but I doubt Rusko himself followed his own setlist. DJ-ing is a bit of a “fly by the seat of your pants” affair. We can tell you this however. He did play mostly tracks from OMG!, the most memorable barn burners being “Hold On” and the unbelievably catchy “Woo Boost”, which you should all go listen to right now. He sampled Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” and Ludacris’s “How Low Can You Go?” He played the Caspian version of “Cockney Thugs” and didn’t play his remix of Kid Cudi’s “Day n’ Nite”, which I was expecting. If you want an actual setlist, you might have to ask Rusko. Or better yet, just go check him out as he tours. He’s an impressive artist on the rise, to be certain.