Returning for their third time to Milwaukee, Beats Antique, a three-piece, live electronic, world roots band, made the annual pit-stop during their fall tour to Milwaukee. For the first time on November 26th, 2011, they played at the Historic Turner Hall Ballroom. This group has been cropping up more recently, and are known for their Middle East style gypsy jams, with the mixing in of ancient down-tempo and tribal sounds. They do a great job of knowing when to sample in their glitch, dubstep, and hip-hop, and with this talent comes the rich, full-bodied trio that creates an almost Egyptian style atmosphere.
During this wing of their tour they were promoting an album release for their newest EP, Elektrafone, including songs: Cat Skillz, Snarl Axel, and Alleyway Featuring Ill Gates.
Opening this evening was DJ Mindspyk and members of The Dead Man’s Carnival, the local circus freak-show involved in magic, and obscure talents such as chewing light bulbs and swallowing the sharp remnants down with a tasty beverage like the ever-so-thirst-quenching household Windex, or your vehicle’s favorite engine oil!
The crowd in attendance varied greatly from group to group. The belly dancer performer/producer Zoe Jakes catches the attention of elder woman due to the nature of her talent. This added entertainment on stage creates a positive stigma that goes along hand-in-hand with the rest of the bands’ demeanor and style of sound. There seemed to be a mix of younger, electro scenesters that just need their fix of an altered sound for their altered minds, families there to enjoy wholesome, genuine music, and then you always have the lifers who rarely miss any show.
During their show, the set-list was solid, yet almost predictable. There were minimal complaints, however, the flow of their performance was deemed relatively scripted. They did a good job of shuffling in tracks from their first two albums as well as promoting their newest addition, but their seemed to be too much pausing, crowd hype, and album promotion during the playing time. During these pauses and breaks it gives the audience time to take their focus off of the band and lose concentration, whereas if there was just a constant, fluent, flow of music the fans would be completely intrigued and sidetracked rather than checking the time or talking to friends.
They concluded their show with their trademarked encore by having members of the audience wear animal masks and other crazy gear like gas masks and prance around the stage like goofballs.
On another note, one aspect that really stumbled fans was that the concert was completely finished by 11:30pm. For a Saturday evening that seems quite a bit early for a concert to come to conclusion. Many talked about this as they left the ballroom disappointed that they were charged $25 for a ticket for an event that was over before midnight, even though they were satisfied with the show.
Lucky for the night owls of the city, Ryan Alby, with DJ stage-name, “Albydamned” knows how to kick off an after-party and keep the party poppin’! After Turner Hall let out, people moseyed over to the RedRoom on Humboldt Avenue where this miniature bar/venue was plump full of ragers lookin’ to get grimey for a few hours after Beats. This free event finished out the night for most, and the majority seemed pleased with the turnouts and performances.
**Quote from a fan: “This band (Beats Antique) is comprised of a few people that love to have fun, and they just happen to play music.”
[cincopa AwDAlyaYU5Ed]
