Last Thursday, the EDMBoston team had the pleasure of taking in the sights and sounds at The Middle East, for the weekly Throwed Presents event. My oh my were we unprepared for what was going to take place. We knew it would be an interesting time as mashup-phenom, Kap Slap, was headlining. But what we didn’t know was how hard an 18+ crowd would “throwed” down be.
When we first arrived, the entrance line wrapped around the corner and was all telling that this was a young crowd. However, what these sub-21ers lacked in blood-alcohol content, they made up for with intense energy on the dance floor! By 9:30pm, “Throwed presents Mission Impossible” was packed and bumping to the beats of Texas Mike. Mike played a mix of progressive and electro “bangers” that had dubstep sprinkled in intermittently. Nero and afrojack would be analogous to the type of tunes heard. It was a solid beat-matched set that featured predominantly new tracks. Texas Mike’s first comers to the dance floor utilized the space and shuffled, which we really enjoyed because you’d never see that in a downtown club.
After opener Texas Mike’s set, founder of Throwed, E-marce, continued the energy. He hit the crowd with a double punch of electro and dub. The crowd in pop edm fashion ate up the dubstep. Arms flying, hands clapping, and heads bobbing.
For the official dedication to the night, E-marce played “Mission Impossible (Tiesto remix)”. When the beat dropped, and everyone was raving out, the dancers sprayed down the crowd with silly string. It was pure mayhem. If you don’t believe us watch the footage we captured below. I’d never seen anything like it, especially on a Thursday night.
This dark, dungy basement club, they call “The middle east downstairs”, that’s been overdue for an overhaul, at least 20 years ago, was alive and embodying the EDM spirit which, our blog and followers have been incessantly chasing in Boston. For a night, the Middle East was transformed into a second home for all EDM fans.
When Kap Slap came out, he was almost an after thought to the dance party in progress. That’s how rowdy the crowd was. Nevertheless, Kap Slap’s presence rapidly changed any notion of that and kicked up the party another notch. He greeted everyone on the mic with a big call out to Boston. With ipad in hand, he fired up his ableton setup and got his mash-up party started. It was epic and nothing short. His mashups were the perfect combination of electro/progressive/dubstep bangers and vocals.
Although Kap Slap struggled to beat match, his tracks carried so much energy, that the crowd hardly noticed the transitions. However, to a trained ear, it was noticeable that Kap Slap was a producer first and now a current DJ, to spread his anthems.
His presence on stage filled the room, literally and figuratively. His towering 6 ft 3’ frame almost reached the ceiling, leaving little room for him to fist pump. However he didn’t let that hold him back. Kap Slap played the balancing act of Djing and entertaining the crowd very well. In between mixing he got out from behind his laptop and used his ipad, yes ipad, to work effects in a teasing manner. In addition, one cannot forget his stage dives at the end of the night. His large athletic frame was a challenge to hoist into the crowd, but the big man wasn’t going to let them stop him from crowd surfing.
From time to time Kap Slap, would address the crowd on the microphone to dial them back up. However, with this crowd it wasn’t necessary. People came to dance their faces off and it really showed.
What really set the tone for the night, was when the hype MC, took an entire pitcher or water and dumped it into the crowd. Everyone ate it up, and went wild. I couldn’t think of another Boston venue were that would be socially acceptable and made peoples night. However, that is the kind of environment Throwed has established at the underground middle east, they call the basement.
Congrats “Throwed” and Kap Slap on an awesome night. We look forward to many more!
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