“We’re getting pretty sexy for a Monday night in Milwaukee,” Chromeo’s Dave 1 said onstage at his concert earlier this week. The Night Falls Tour, with special guest Sammy Bananas and soul crooners Mayer Hawthorne & The County, definitely brought a party through the Turner Hall Ballroom Oct 3.
Where other large venues in the city seem crowded and underwhelming as far as sound and atmosphere, Turner Hall is beautiful on the inside with its rustic charm and amazing acoustics. It never sounded like the music was being scraped out of the speakers. Everything was clear and enjoyable.
The show was at its slowest when Sammy Bananas hit the stage, and propelled to its highest energy when Chromeo started their set.
Sammy Bananas, a Brooklyn DJ who has remixed artists like Passion Pit, Kid Cudi and tour mates Chromeo, opened the show almost secretly. There was no announcement, no address to the crowd. He just took the stage and started spinning in the corner.
Sammy Bananas wasn’t a bad opening act, but the stage presence was lacking. During the middle of his set, he did bust out a saxophone, which was the most exciting thing he did that night. His mixes sampled from Stevie Wonder, Rose Royce and many ’90s up-tempo dance songs, but if you left to use the bathroom you probably would not have missed much.
Mayer Hawthorne and his band, on the other hand, oozed cool.
Hailing from Detroit, Hawthorne’s music is reminiscent of the Motor City’s Motown past in a big way. His retro vibe gives him a different angle when it comes to the current white guy soul genre made popular by Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke.
Hawthorne does not have the same sex appeal JT and Thicke have – mostly because he looks like a nerdy history TA with a bowtie and hoodie – but he is still quite the front man. He is extremely charismatic on stage, which lets his catchy throwback melodies shine through his raspy range and swoon-inducing falsettos. He was even charming while cursing like a sailor.
After Hawthorne’s set, the crowd seemed to be preparing for the headliners – almost like they were stretching all their dancing muscles. With stage names like Dave 1 and P-Thugg, it would be disappointing if they didn’t make sweet ’80s inspired beats, marinating in excessive amounts of cowbells, synthesizers and keyboards to dance to.
Chromeo, the electro-funk duo who have proclaimed themselves as “the only successful Arab/Jew partnership since the dawn of human culture,” didn’t disappoint the crowd. Simply put, Chromeo is fun to watch.
Playing fan favorites like “Bonafied Lovin,” “Tenderoni” and “Night By Night,” Dave 1 and P-Thugg were able to keep the crowd’s energy up throughout the entire set list. When you weren’t distracted by the lady legs attached to the keyboards on stage, you were probably dancing to Dave 1’s guitar solos or P-Thugg’s amazingly smooth Auto-Tuned ad-libs.
Chromeo shockingly doesn’t sound much different from their albums, partially because an Apple computer joins them on stage playing parts of their tracks. Regardless, live instruments are included and the music still makes the crowd dance, which is the most important part of their performance, after all.
The Night Falls Tour meshed dance, soul and funk together and left concertgoers bouncing to a steady groove throughout the night. Mondays may never be as sexy again.