Jeff Able, aka Excision, opens his set at The Fillmore Detroit on April 14. Photo/Brian Quintos
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]mid the wake of Hash Bash in Ann Arbor, ravers in all shapes and colors, decked out in spike b
ras, light up plush backpacks, and neon everything found their way to Excision’s set at The Fillmore in Detroit, MI. Canadian dubstep producer Jeff Abel, aka Excision, put on a filthy, high-energy, perfectly paced, two-hour set.
Abel opened the set encased inside of his DJ booth with a type of video game shooter animation projected onto the booth. A drop hit, highlighted by a “TARGET AQUIRED” crosshair animation projected center on the booth.
Throughout his set, Excision played remixes of “Drop Like an Earthquake,” Kanye & Jay-Z’s “N*ggas in Paris,” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”
Shrouded by his projector screen-DJ booth, Excision was further shielded by shutters that would open only for major drops and high points during the set. It was an opposite stage presence compared to EDM artists such as Steve Aoki who jump up and around the stage with crazy props, champagne and inflatable rafts. It really forcedthe crowd to focus and enjoy only the music.
With a dubstep pioneer like Excision, the fluff and frill wasn’t necessary. However, what is an EDM show without lasers, smoke and a massive light show? All of that was included.
The fifth to last song featured heavy metal production, almost echoing the sounds of Dream Theater who played at The Fillmore the night before.
All throughout the last part of his set Able played a suspenseful track featuring buildups what seemed like drops but weren’t really drops. The suspense of almost five minutes came together with a massive, classic EDM drop.
The last song, an encore, finished with the lyrics “get stupid” and a retro TV-off static animation projected onto the DJ booth bringing Excision’s set to a satisfying close.
French EDM duo Dirtyphonics played right before Excision and had a great, hour-long set. Early in the set, the two jumped to the front of the stage with “Dirtyphonics” labeled squirt guns and drenched the crowd with water.
A high point of their set featured their song “No Stopping Us (feat. Foreign Beggars),” a bassy-ringy EDM track. Dirtyphonics also played a remix of White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”
Ill Gates setup the scene as fans started to gather on the floor starting off slow and finishing off loud and with a massive punch.
