Denver’s livetronica phenoms, Big Gigantic, played a sold
out show on Sunday night at the Royal Oak Music Theatre with assist from opening
acts Manic Focus and Detroit’s own Astralogic. The duo are currently circling
the country on their “The Night Is Young Tour”, named after their brand new album, "The Night Is Young", which was just released last Tuesday. Big Gigantic are rather different than many of the popular current EDM acts because they include live instrumentation throughout
their entire set. Big G’s electronic sounds are paired with jazz and hip hop thanks
to drummer, Jeremy Salkin, and saxophonist/producer, Dominic Lalli. Their live
sets are a mixture of chill beats and high energy dance music with mesmerizing light
production. Big Gigantic turned the atmosphere of the Royal Oak Music Theatre into the
ultimate euphoric music experience.
The songs that received the loudest response from the audience during the evening’s
set were the cuts that were lifted from
their just released album, especially the Cherub assisted club banger, “The Night Is
Young”. The set featured tracks from throughout Big Gigantic’s six year career,
as well as reworking’s of well-known songs like “Bonfire” by Knife Party, "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore feat. Ryan Lewis, and “I
Need a Dollar” by Aloe Black. Big Gigantic had the crowd in a frenzy, very few
acts can make an audience erupt the way that Big Gigantic does. Their live set reinvents their best known
tracks into crowd pleasing, floor-filling anthems which electrify and entrance every single concertgoer.The transformation of their music from recording to live version needs to be heard to fully comprehend how well it works in the live setting.
The light show is a major component of Big Gigantic's show, the stage
featured several illuminated rectangles and squares strategically placed to take up the entire
stage. This makes for one jaw dropping visual effect after another, which gets the crowd continuously more and more excited. From the projections on the paneling, to the lasers which seem to be omnipresent, to the other brilliant lighting effects, there is always something gorgeously breathtaking to look at at a Big Gigantic show.
DJ/producer, Manic Focus, and our Detroit homeboy, Astralogic, opened the festivities. Minnesota's Manic Focus played a hard hitting set which included his collaborations with Griz and The Floozies. He also threw in some remixes of well-known songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Smashing Pumpkins, Chumbawamba (yes, those pissers of the night) and Missy Elliott. By the way that he worked the crowd, it is quite clear that Manic Focus is on his way to becoming a headliner in his own right. He sways and gets into the music, which leads the crowd to get just as excited as he is. During Manic Focus's set, he surprised the audience and brought out Muzzy for a jam session complete with live guitar. This was a show for the books. This is more than likely the last time that we'll be seeing Big Gigantic in a venue the size of Royal Oak Music Theatre. Their profile and reputation keeps on growing, and they keep on playing larger and larger venues.
