By Kirsten Becker
There has been quite a bit of buzz surrounding TNGHT, the electronic duo comprised of Hudson Mohawke and Lunice. With just over a year of performing as TNGHT, they have become wildly popular for their unique blend of trap music. Despite having only released one EP, their self-titled debut which came out last year, they embarked on a massive worldwide tour. To kick off the United States portion, TNGHT stopped by Philadelphia’s Starlight Ballroom on April 10th. This show was one of only four stops they would be making in the States.
Getting to the show was delayed by a completely unexpected and sudden rain storm. When I finally made it into the venue I was somewhat surprised at how few people turned up for the show. Yes, it was a Wednesday night and yes, the weather may have played a factor. Also, there was definitely a split in the crowd due to a competing Netsky show happening the same night at Soundgarden Hall. This is not to say the place was totally empty, but it was definitely a less than expected showing.
Despite the weather and unfortunate show date, there was still a crowd of devoted fans, who, even as I entered the venue, were going crazy for the openers. I could tell it was going to be a long night when I saw the lineup: supporting TNGHT were four of Philly’s most up and coming DJs: Krueger, Flufftronix, Suga Shay, and Xaphoon Jones.
I noticed there were a couple of awkward things happening with the production of the show, such as a short power outage happened during Xaphoon Jones’s set… but the acts quickly recovered when little mishaps like this occurred.
Finally, it was time for the headliner to play their set, and everyone was ready and on the dancefloor. TNGHT started with a heavy build up, prolonging their intro and amping up everyone’s excitement. Once the first drop hit, the crowd went nuts. TNGHT kept the energy high from the stage, leading the vibe of the crowd, performing all their crowd favorites like “Higher Ground” and “R U Ready”, and even played some of the members’ solo material such as Hudson Mohawke’s “Cbat.” Later on, they unveiled their newest track, “Voyeur.” The lights were frenetic and the crowd was as well. Everyone was letting loose and going all out.
Around 12:30 am, I left the crowd to take a quick break and when I came back all the lights were on and masses of people were getting up to leave. Everyone looked really confused and I could hear people asking if the show was over, despite TNGHT still being on stage. I went back into the crowd to stay for whatever else was left. The mood was a lot different, and the DJs looked frustrated. They continued to play encore after encore despite the lights being on to signal a wrap up of the show. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, someone got on stage and told them to stop. That was it, it just sort of ended… TNGHT walked off the stage, obviously unhappy with how the show had gone. I was unpleased with the events as well, as all the information for the show stated it would go until 4 am, yet it ended over three hours early.
Even though the performance ended on a slightly awkward and negative note, TNGHT brought everything they had and, from what I gathered, the fans had no complaints about the show that night (other than the strange conclusion).