Steve Aoki Concert at Koko:

By Peter Felton

Steve Aoki is an electro-house musician and DJ known for his over-the-top performance style and unique stage presence. We saw him perform at Koko in Camden Town on September 10^th along with several other electronic artists.

Walking into the club was a complete sensory overload; bright lights illuminating the audience and the stage, people shoving and yelling to move through the dense crowds, the humidity mixing with the smell of alcohol and sweat, and most of all, bass heavy music blaring on the giant speakers that seemed to shake your entire body.

While some avid fans of the “electronica” musical genre will disagree, to me, the concert was much more about the crazed performance by Aoki and the party in the audience than the actual music. At times, I was somewhat skeptical about what he was actually doing musically on stage – a track, consisting largely of medleys of other people’s music, was playing while he seemed to be mixing it by playing with his soundboard and laptop. However, he would occasionally sing, or more accurately scream, into the mic.

Still his unrestrained energy and willingness to be ridiculous transferred directly to the audience. Unlike many artists, Aoki was able to directly engage the audience, thus having them become a part of the performance. The concert followed a sinusoidal pattern, both regarding Aoki’s energy, that of his music, and that of the audience. Initially, he was relatively calm and reserved on stage, standing at a small table full of electronics holding his headphones with his shoulder. The music at this point was generally fast but steady. Then the beat would fall off and it would be somewhat quieter for a moment. Then the music would begin to build back up, while Aoki would simultaneously become more and more animated – pacing back and forth across the stage, yelling, pointing at audience members, pumping his fists, and even throwing plastic bottles of water (which someone later told me contained vodka) into the crowd. The lights, which were normally colorful and bright, would often go dark during the build up, with a single spotlight on Aoki. As the build up approached the climax all elements of the performance became more intense – the music got louder, Aoki got crazier, the audience started to shout, and giant strobelights began flashing faster and faster. Then there would be what electronic fans know as a “drop”, which is the final release of tension when the music goes quiet for a second and then the bass suddenly thunders back in, and the beat returns to a previous pace. At this point the entire audience would be either jumping up and down with their hands in the air or swaying back and forth vigorously – depending on the tempo of the song. Aoki would also perform different stunts at these points in songs, which ranged from spraying the audience with champagne, throwing strawberries and cream on the crowds, throwing himself onto the crowd, and throwing himself on top of an inflatable raft which the crowd was holding up. The last one failed miserably because he missed the raft entirely.

Overall, despite my lack of enthusiasm for the electronica genre, I definitely enjoyed the performance by Steve Aoki. His ability to vary the intensity of songs and parts of songs created a dynamic environment and kept the audience from getting bored but didn’t tire them out too much either.