Girl Talk

This week will be yet another review/breakdown of a recent concert that I've seen. This past weekend I had a chance to see Girl Talk. Though most people would define Girl Talk as just a glorified DJ, he considers himself an electronic musician. His creates his music by combining samples of many different kinds of music. He does all of this with ease and combines the ultimate party mix. His music lends itself best to large music festivals though he is completely capable of touring on his own and drawing large crowds. The last few times I have seen him his production has gotten increasingly better with this weekend being some of the best production I've seen. Across the front of the stage he had three LED screens on the front of rolling tables. The middle table was where he stood and did his mixing. On top of the LED screens on stage left and stage right were an LED mover, I'm guessing the Martin 101 or 301, and a crowd flasher. (Not sure of the correct terminology for "crowd flasher") On the upstage edge were three more LED displays in deformed plus shapes. Underneath these displays were three high-powered strobes and two moving head lights. There were also LED movers on top of these displays. The LED displays were not used for IMAG but rather were used for some random animations. Some of the animations related directly back to the music and the samples being used but the majority of the time they were flashing random "Girl Talk" logos or just completely random pictures. Somehow amongst the randomness of the images though, they fit perfectly with the party atmosphere that was present at the show. One mystery about the show that I am trying to solve is how the Lighting Designer or Video Director is able to match up the animations that correlate to the show at the right time. Everything that Girl Talk does he mixes live so it seems improbable that the planned parts of the show are just lucky cue hits. Many of the lighting cues are tempo dependent and fall perfectly on drums hits etc. The answer could simply be that the "live mixing" is a facade and every minute of the show is planned to a tea, but I've seen him many times and each time the mixes have been don differently. It could be a usage of MIDI triggers of some sort or it could be just great planning. Whatever it may be, the show flow seamlessly between chaos and order. The balance between chaos and order is what makes the show work. Yes there is a high level of production. But at the same time it all feels like it's flying by the seat of its pants. If the show swayed too far on the side of production I think it would fail. If it was too chaotic it would also fail. Girl Talk seems to have found the perfect balance and continues to explore different lighting and video technologies that will enhance his show. In talking about finding the balance between chaos and order makes me think about my own programming and how important it is to be creative and smart with your lighting decisions. Too many effects and strobing could really fatigue your audience and turn them off to a show, but too little could disengage the audience and leave them bored. (photo courtesy of http://sunfest.com/blog/girl-talk/)