Photos by Pedro Paredes // Written by Molly Kish //
RAC with Ghost Beach, Joywave //
The Fillmore — San Francisco
Tuesday April 8th, 2014 //
Earlier in the week at the Fillmore, SF electro-pop enthusiasts were treated to a synth-stacked lineup featuring Joywave, Ghost Beach and headliner RAC. The sold out crowd got down to this refreshing bill of talent, bringing new wave vibes to the City. The night was filled with great energy, crowd participation, surprise guest vocalists and most importantly the SF debut of RAC live! Not too shabby for a Tuesday evening.
Kicking off the night, local favorites Joywave warmed up the early evening revelers with a lively but limited opening set. Staples in the City’s local venue and indie club scene, they played to a half filled auditorium of early arrivals and established fans. Drawing in the crowd’s attention with their passionate performance and spirited stage presence, the six piece band set the tone perfectly for the rest of the evening’s bill. Celebrating the release of their EP What is This, they played a bulk of new material along with favorites off Koda Vista from last year. Joywave got the crowd bustling, offering a mere sample of what undoubtedly will be a promising year ahead.
Next up, Ghost Beach came out guns a blazing. Ready to jumpstart the evening, they instantly broke into high energy tracks off of their latest release on Crazy Heart Records, Blonde. Prompting the crowd into a coordinated routine of synchronized dance moves, Josh and Eric elevated the excitement level tenfold. Their material, drawing heavily from obvious new wave influences, echoed that of contemporary counterparts Passion Pit and Classixx and motivated crowd residencies on the main floor for the duration of the evening. Switching the second half of their set over into their recent foray into “tropical grit-pop”, the boys segued seamlessly into the main headliners of the night. Conjuring up verbal associations to a modern day Romancing the Stone soundtrack, Ghost Beach finished out their set focusing heavily on their new foray into “jungle-wave” dance floor rousers.
RAC took the stage third for a surprisingly different type of performance, not only for the Bay Area, but as an artist in general. A favorite amongst remix enthusiasts and fixture at local venues Mezzanine and the Independent, RAC’s founder and solo member Andre Allen Anjos brought along a complete backing band to properly debut material off his brand new release, Strangers. Shifting from DJ to full throttle front man didn’t seem like it was too much of a stretch for Anjos, whom casually shared the stage with numerous vocalists. Providing a set list spanning his entire career both as a remixer and collaborative artist, the crowd got treated to a innovative reimagining of old favorites and fresh takes on new material.
Highlight tracks including Lana del Rey’s “Blue Jeans” starting off the set flowing effortlessly into a punctuating performance of Phoenix’s “Armistice”, a fellow track off of 2013’s Chapter One. The audience responded to RAC’s progressive stage performance without hesitation, raging the Fillmore as though they were watching a headlining rock band as opposed to a simple DJ transition. Finishing off the evening with a venue stirring rendition of “Tongue’s” fronted by Joywave’s lead singer Daniel Armbruster, RAC culminated their set strong, leaving the crowd raring for more. Although missing on the list at this year’s Coachella and Outside Lands, Anjos is getting ready to bring the crew on the road for summer festivals nationwide. A show definitely worth catching, RAC’s new direction is as impressive as it is logical, lending way to a brand new era of live remixing and new face artistically for Anjos.
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