Justice @ Mezzanine, 10/10/07

Mezzanine should just change its name to Midnight. Because no matter what day of the week it is, the show will not get started until then.

What many are claiming was the show of the summer made for a great ad as the tickets for Justice went on sale. From one French DJ duo to another, the show sold out and many counted down the months between.

D.A.N.C.E. was the DJ spin of the summer. The kids singing in a schoolyard meets disco track really gets people excited. It’s a fun song, but an anomaly against the others on the record. I like Justice because of their dark beats and updated Daft Punk motif.

So it’s Wednesday up in the Mezzanine, the sound starts at 10, and we’ve got 3 DJs, Midnight Juggernaughts, and Justice to get through. I complain because I have a job to go to in the morning, and I am not on drugs like most here.

Midnight Juggernauts started out pretty bland but worked its way up. From Melbourne, Australia, they’ve remixed songs from the likes of Ajax and The Presets, and have toured with Scissor Sisters, MSTRKRFT, and Death From Above 1979. Having a guitar and drums present in this DJ focused night helped break things up. However, going back and listening to their tracks- they didn’t really live up to it live.

After some DJ Mendhi, Justice finally appeared. It was like some sort of futuristic mass. As they took the stage, some guys that were completely out of their noggin on something pushed their way by us with a neon cross held up high. The cross seemed to crowd surf the rest of the night. The cross light scheme, while no Daft Punk pyramid, was well situated. While the Justice album is a bit more balanced in terms of dark and ‘medium bodies’ beats, the live set is much more raver centric. The guys were very focused and had some synchronized head bopping going on, but the one on the left- the Luigi meets Andy Samberg- was much more dynamic. He constantly had a cigarette dangling out of his mouth, and his curly mop seemed to move to the beats independent of his head.

Justice, while fun for its dance party atmosphere, didn’t quite mix their tracks up in a way that was as impressive as some other DJs I’ve seen. Their regular set was almost like listening to the album on shuffle. The encore seemed more experimental.

The crowd was really into it, not caring who they were elbowing and stepping on along the way. Everyone emerged from the show in a damp to sopping state, looking tired and satisfied, and that they would probably have foggy memories of the experience when they woke up in the afternoon.

Crazy footage I found on youtube: