It was my first time seeing Egyptian Lover live, and I was very excited to see what he had cooked up for this week’s edition of Piknic Electronik, on Sunday September 27th.
The evening air was cool, fall was starting to set in, and the usual summer crowds had shrunk. It made for a different vibe: the dancefloor offered more space to move, and an earlier sundown made for a moodier atmosphere.
The LA native started true to his West Coast Electro Funk roots, with groovy vocals and a steady 808 thump underneath. He then dug deeper into the Miami bass section of his record crate, laying down sludgy bass lines that had the crowd moving.
The selection was eclectic. There were Latin cuts, an Addison Rae dub, and Miss Kittin & The Hacker’s “Walk on By.” Then came a Miami bass flip of Tiga’s “Sunglasses at Night,” a back-to-back of two of my favourite tracks that I did not see coming, though it didn’t seem to excite the rest of the crowd as much as it did me. He kept things going with groovy funk tunes, followed by flips of well-known crowd-pleasers like Ghost Town DJs’ “My Boo” and Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock.” It was an impressive display of his vast vinyl collection, but I unfortunately found the set slightly generic.
Around the 40-minute mark, he slowed the tempo down, and in honesty, it didn’t work for me. He seemed to lose his touch with the crowd a little, and I was a bit disappointed.
He brought the vibe back up towards the end, though. He took the mic for live vocals, singing and asking where the freaks were at. Then he addressed the crowd directly, emphasizing his analog setup: “I don’t play Serato. I play my 808.” Pointing to his equipment, he exclaimed, “This is my original 808… the first one, from 40 years ago,” referring to the drum machine that has shaped so much of contemporary music, which drew some cheers.
He then sang a sexy vocal rendition of his classic “I Need a Freak,” and that brought the crowd roaring back for his finale.
Verdict: Egyptian Lover has the catalogue and the credentials, but the set leaned on safe crowd-pleasers and lost steam mid-way. The live vocals and the 808 moments were the real highlights, and I wish there had been more of them. Still, it’s commendable to play a fully vinyl set in this day and age.
