It seemed like a good night at Simon’s, located in the well known college town of Gainesville Florida. The typical crowd is what filled the club for the upcoming show; fairly well dressed club goers, tank wearing ragers, a few kandi kids in their own worlds and casual concert attenders all gathered in the main room awaiting the headliner Brillz, and his opener, heRobust to begin their sets for the night. HeRobust took to the stage first around 11 o’clock and successfully did what an opener should; warming up the crowd with a jumpy and danceable set. I’ve heard a few notable tracks by heRobust before, such as his remix of “Same Damn Time” and his original production “We Are”. Both of those tracks and a few of his others were played by the quite young looking DJ, but it was pleasant to hear his mixing skill as well. He wasn’t quite your typical opener that does outro-to-intro mixing. He took risks, juggling a few tracks and really blending songs together that kept the crowd lively, all the while not playing a single song Brillz played that night, a feat sometimes difficult for opener DJ’s who are the same genre as the headliner to perform. So I must say bravo to heRobust for his efficiency.
At about 12:30 in the morning Brillz took to the stage wasting no time dropping bangers that kept the crowd on a high left over from heRobust’s solid opening set. He played trap remixes of classic lyricals the crowd could sing along to like Bro Safari’s “Scumbag” (that utilizes the lyrics of Biggie Small’s “Suicidal Thoughts”) and Brillz’s very well known trap remix of Zedd’s “Clarity”. One thing I’d without a doubt applaud Brillz on is the work he did with the venue he was dealt. To be honest, Simon’s isn’t the greatest venue in the world for a concert. Being quite large, the club consists of three fairly equal sized rooms, and while it is a very nice venue with a good atmosphere, there lacks an extremely distinguished focus point for concerts (I’ve seen many DJ acts fall prey to this dilemma in the past, not being able to efficiently gather the crowd into the main room); but this was certainly not an issue for Brillz. Through his well mixed set, he demanded the crowd to gather where he was playing and witness the talent he’s clearly worked hard to master. Like what majority trap-playing DJ’s seem to do well, Brillz played several hip hop tracks the crowd could relate to keeping a packed dance floor in a venue that’s not extremely easy to work with, really separating himself from your run of the mill upcoming DJ in my opinion. All in all, the show was well done and really helped broaden a college town like Gainesville’s understanding and enjoyment of electronic music. So naturally I must say, well done, Mr. Brillz, very well done!