Dastik brings Firepower Records tour to Congress Theater
by Josh Krol
On the last Saturday of September, Datsik brought his army of dub soldiers to rage on the Congress Theater in Chicago for his Firepower Tour. Troy Beetles (Datsik) founded his own record label in January 2012 aptly named Firepower Records. Beetles has already signed a handful of producers including Getter, xKore, Terravita, Rekoil, Delta Heavy, AFK and Bare Noize – the latter three joined him on the Chicago stop.
Taking one step into the venue meant getting blasted by bass. The atmosphere was soaked in the rainforest like heat, earthquake like bass and sweat drenched ravers raging on as he opened up the set with his dub staple “Swagga.” And right off the bat swagga was full effect at the Congress on a warm night in Chi city.
From the balcony you could see everything: the massive crowd below waving their arms high, the mob on the far balcony sprinkling their water bottles on the dehydrated crowd below, and the massive subwoofer like stage setup known as the Vortex produced by V Squared Labs.
His high energy dubstep had the crowd moving all night and made the floor shiver due to the wobbles he was letting loose. At times it felt as if the Congress was going to crumble. Imagine a subwoofer pumping 50,000 watts of bass that you could stand in the middle of and that’s exactly what the Vortex was as trippy graphics converged into a cyclone behind the crooked hat and loose shirt wearing Canadian producer.
Datsik’s last few appearances in Chicago included an opening slot for Steve Aoki after he first signed on with Aoki’s Dim Mak Records last year. The second time was his day set during the initial Spring Awakening Festival at Solider Field this summer. Both were packed with lots of hype and he pulled through without missing a beat.
After stepping away from the Vortex a few times halfway through the show to thank the Chicago crowd with a couple stage dives he walked back behind the visualizer and pumped out a crowd favorite cover of the Pretty Lights staple Finally Moving. He let a heavy flow of low and steady wobbles play underneath the ear catching vocal and guitar lines. The massive crowd screamed with excitement.
The energy was sky high throughout the set and Datsik finished strong with an overpowering version of Nuke ‘Em and an up-tempo final few tracks that left the crowd exhausted. Playing just over an hour, Datsik gave his thanks one more time and waved goodbye as the bright lights of the Congress were switched on just after 1 in the morning.
We give our thanks to Datsik and all of his label mates for bringing the noise to the Congress and continuing to rage on.
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