2D - Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.co'm

{ Fleet Foxes play a nearly sold-
out show at Hill Auditorium

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Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk surprises Ann Arbor With a show at The Blind Pig.

Girl Talk storms through Ann
Arbor with riotous secret show

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udents and fans and onto Europe, Japan, Austra-
lia and New Zealand.
lock to see the "I thought it was pretty fan-
tastic," said Public Policy junior
Seattle group Michael Bloom after the show.
"Hill Auditorium has the best
acoustics in the Midwest, so you
By JOE CADAGIN know, it really topped it off."
Daily Fine Arts Editor Hill Auditorium often plays
host to classical music concerts.
PT 30, 2011 - In the-world Moreover, the auditorium is
lie rock, one bearded, plaid- recognized by many as a top
ing group of mountain men venue, and with a capacity of
een attracting quite a lot of 3,561 audience members, it's an
tion. ideal place for AnnArbor to hold
nce their debut, self-titled high-profile concerts.
o was released in 2008, "Hill's really cool, because
.Foxes have soared to fame it's really easy to hear," said LSA
even gained some main- junior Elana Firsht. "I may be in
m recognition. Last night, the mezzanine, but it felt like I
'and played a nearly sold- was in the front row"
oncert at Hill Auditorium Even Fleet Foxes's lead singer
rt of a tour that will lead Robin Pecknold remarked from
across the United States onstage that Hill is "so beautiful

and fun-to play in."
Formed in 2006 in Seat-
tie, Wash., Fleet Foxes have
released two EPs and two full-
length albums. The latest,.Help-
lessness Blues, came out in May
and garnered near-perfect rat-
ings from Pitchfork, allmusic.
com and Rolling Stone maga-
zine.
A big part of Fleet Foxes's
popularity is due to their folksy,
Appalachian-inspired melodies,
blending elements of rock with
traditional American music.
Many of their songs seem to
come straight out of a log cabin
in the Adirondacks.
"I like their folky, indie, kind
of offbeat sound," Firsht said.
That sound is also a result
of the'band's rich and complex
harmonies, which bring to mind
See FOXES, Page 3D

DJ teams with Axe
One Night Only to
surprise crowd
By ANDREW ECKHOUS
DailyArts Writer
DEC. 9, 2011 - Girl Talk is
a mad scientist. Splicing Lady
Gaga legs together with Michael
Jackson arms and a Biggie Smalls
head, his creations absorb energy
from the lovestruck crowd and
throw it back, resulting in a rau-
cous frenzy of screaming, singing
and dancing. Attendingone of his
concerts is not only a chance to
see the world's foremost mash-up
artist at work, but also an oppor-
tunity to sing along to songs you
love, songs you hate and songs
you don't even know, with hun-
dreds of people you've never met'
before but for some reason want
to embrace.
Coming to Ann Arbor last
night for the Axe One Night Only
tour, Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis is
currently making the rounds
through college campuses cross-
country playing secret shows at
small venues, making for an inti-
mate and sweaty experience. The
shows were kept under wraps so
well that even Gillis forgot about
them.

"We scheduled these shows
months ago, and there were no
mentions on Twitter or the Inter-
net, so it sort of slipped my mind
too, believe it or not," he said in
an exclusive interview with The
Michigan Daily.
Last night's concert was at the
Blind Pig, a cozy venue (to put it
mildly), and though there was a
remarkable lack of neoh in the
crowd, there was.no shortage of
energy. Gillis admitted the small
Blind Pig couldn't support his.
normal light show, but empha-
sized that he wanted to "bring
the insane energy and atmo-
sphere of a bigger show" to the
legendary bar.
The openers, People Under the
Stairs, primed the crowd, spout-
ing fist-pumping lyrics like, "If
you don't like beer, get the fuck
outta here!" By the time Girl Talk
walked on stage, the rambunc-
tious crowd was ready to get
down.
The pure, unadulterated ener-
gy of Girl Talk never wavered:
He amped up the crowd with his
convulsive dancing, streams of
confetti and his version of back-
up dancers, who sing along while
using leafblowers to blow toilet
paper and water into the soaking
wet, "Is this your sweat or mine?"
crowd. Meanwhile, dozens of
front-row concertgoers were

lucky enough to be brought up
on stage, allowing them to dance
next to Gillis and have their pic-
tures posted on Facebook by jeal-
ous friends.
At a Girl :Talk show, your
favorite Wu-Tang/Souljah Boy/
Outkast verse may be mixed
with your favorite Radiohead/
Metallica/Dr.Dre beats, giving
you a double-dose of mindblow-
ing music. The schvitzy crowd
could be bumpin'n'grindin to a
filthy Salt-N-Pepa/Journey mix
one second; and screaming at the
top of their lungs to "Bohemian
Rhapsody" the next.
Some techno elitists whine
about Girl Talk's "unoriginal
material" and his gimmicky
shows, and they have a valid
point. But one Girl. Talk show
probably releases almost as much
energy as an A-bomb, and his
sampling skills make entirely
new songs out of old material.
As I limped out of the Blind
Pig with a sore neck and battered
body, I looked around me. People
from every demographic imag-
inable were in as much pain as I
was, but they couldn't stop rav-
ing. Like Dr. Frankenstein before
him, Greg Gillis' monster has
come to life, but instead of unit-
ing against it, the townsfolk have
gathered in the city square for a
grimy,sweaty techno oarty.

J. Cole to headline SpringFest

Taking the stage at
Hill Auditorium to
benefit C.S.. Mott
Children's Hospital
By GEOFF MARINO
Daily Arts Writer.
APRIL 6, 2012 - The Univer-
sity undoubtedly has a large stu-
dent body, but it's also true that
once football season ends, it can
be easy to forget the majesty of
our collective presence. MUSIC
Matters, a student club on cam-
pus, has made its mission to rec-
tify this.
The club has generated about
$100,000 in five months from
sponsors - such as the Office of
the President, the Office of Uni-
versity Development, UMS and
LSA - in order to attract a major
performer and organize a siz-

able event. This year, C.S. Mott
Children's Hospital will receive
proceeds from the event which
will be headlined by J. Cole, who
was nominated for Best New
Artist at this year's Grammys.
Phil Schermer, MUSIC Mat-
ters president and LSA sopho-
more, emphasized the club's
intention to draw the student
body to this major "capstone"
event. Today, MUSIC Matters
will host this' two-part event,
dubbed SpringFest.
The first part, which takes
place from 11a.m. to 2 p.m. today,
will feature student groups
advertising their clubs to pass-
ing students in a setup similar to
Festifall on the Diag. Unlike Fes-
tifall, though, the clubs will be"
accompanied by a capella groups
and other student entertainers
aimed to create a lively vibe to
attract students to the Diag.
The second event, co-hosted
by Pi Kana Aloha fraternity

and MUSIC Matters, will occur
tonight at 8 p.m. at Hill Audito-
rium, as J. Cole brings his talent
back to Ann Arbor.
But he won't be alone. MUSIC
Matters hosted a video competi-
tion between local dance and
rap groups to determine the
openers for J. Cole. On Sunday
night, it was announced that
the featured groups would be
dance groups EnCore, funKtion
and Dance2XS, as well as rap
groups Fairytale Productions
and D.S.B.
J. Cole described his support
for local musical acts and lauded
the benefits of including them in
bigger concerts.
"It's a great opportunity for
local artists to come through
and shine, and make some new
fans by performing in front of
a bunch of people who may not
have heard of them before," Cole
said in an interview with The
Michigan.Daily.

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