Five sets you wish you didn’t miss at Electric Zoo Festival ’11

By Annie Rusten

Even though Electric Zoo is over, I’m still wearing my three-day pass entrance band. Everyone knows that once you chop that bad boy off, the festival’s really finished and it’s time to go back to reality. Although I might be back to real life again, I figured writing this review might kind of sort of take me back to Zoo. And the band is staying on (at least for now).

With so many artists on the lineup, it was impossible to see all the artists I wanted as I have yet to figure out how to be in two places at once. That being said, here are the performances I thought deserved a spotlight (in the order they came and went).

Steve Bug; Sunday School Grove; Saturday 3:10-4:40 pm
For such an early set time, Steve played one of the best sets in the Sunday School Grove tent Saturday. It was the perfect tempo for the time of day — not too light and not too hard. He spun some tech and deep house tunes and had the whole crowd moving and grooving. The best track he dropped was Osunlade’s Envision It – (Ame Remix).

Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77; Main Stage; Saturday 9:30-11 pm
I’m including Bloody Beetroots into my list of highlights, but I wasn’t really crazy about their whole set. The beginning and ending rocked, but they caught the audience a bit off guard when they started playing hardcore screamo. Don’t get me wrong — hardcore is great and all, but I’m in the middle of an electronic music fest. After scaring people away from main stage for a bit, people began flocking back for the finale. Aside from the wacky costumes and the insane light show, my favorite part was the keyboardist. He was out of control! He somehow managed to pull off doing “the twist” while spinning around in circles the whole time he was on, and the music still sounded great. When I think back on Electric Zoo and who put on the best performance, it’s things like that that really stick in memory.

Ferry Corsten; Hilltop Arena; Saturday 9:30-11 pm
Not everyone is a big fan of trance, but I am — specifically Ferry Corsten’s sets. A lot of DJs talk about how their music is supposed to “tell a story” and I always feel that Ferry does this when he plays. He always does a great job of putting a cap on his sets when he is closing up, leaving me with a sense of satisfaction. That, paired with the fact that I’m a big fan of the girly/whispery vocals he always uses, is why I really enjoyed watching him.

Fake Blood; Hilltop Arena; Sunday 5:35-6:45 pm
As far as visuals were concerned, I thought the Hilltop Arena had the best of the tents and Fake Blood’s were almost too crazy to watch. Although they were pretty gory, the whole crowd was feinding for more. From dripping blood splattered across the screens, to a beaten chick — it was weird, but oddly amusing. Also, I’m big on DJ to crowd interaction (as I feel it makes the show better), and even though Fake Blood seemed too focused on his set to even look up, the visuals and a pretty sick electro set allowed for a great show.

Nicolaas Jaar (Live); Sunday School Grove; Sunday 6:45- 7:50 pm
Probably my favorite set of the entire festival, Nicolas Jaar, a live act, had a whole band set up on stage while he was DJing, and he did his own vocals. Impressive, and damn sexy. He was just dropping one sexy track after another and the crowd couldn’t contain itself. Jaar’s band also had some cool rotation going on most of the show and didn’t give the audience a dull moment. Also, out the applause I remember from the festival, Nicolaas Jaar’s was by far the strongest I heard, leading me to believe the rest of the crowd felt the same way I did.

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