Girl Talk. Free Concert. Blind Pig. Axe. One Night Only. WHO YOU GONNA BRING

Never been so sober- but I couldn’t have felt drunker. Never sweat more in my life but I couldn’t have felt cooler. Never been so tightly squeezed in a horde of people but I couldn’t have felt free-er. Never experienced such an interactive live show, so I knew I had to be at the Blind Pig. Girl Talk’s free concert Wednesday night, sponsored by Axe, was the perfect antidote to a stressful week of college finals preparations.

I have been a Girl Talk fan since I was in 7^th grade, back when his music was as new as the Myspace page he advertised on. I was introduced to Gillis before he even released Night Ripper, when he used the 8-minute blend of “Too Deep, Smash Your Head, and Minute by Minute” as a teaser for his music, and when he used to play a free concert at any time, anywhere. I have followed him closely as he began to gain popularity and soared to new heights of fame few people imagined he would reach. I watched as he began to change his live show experience, performing at larger venues, incorporating a more advanced light show, hiring hype men/women to spray the crowd with all sorts of crazy substances, and my personal favorite: building a lifesize house on stage for his New Years Eve concert in Chicago.

Needless to say, his style has changed incredibly since I had the good fortune to see him four years ago in New Haven, Connecticut. When I saw him he was a few months away from releasing Feed the Animals, and just on the cusp of gaining the universal popularity he has today. The show was incredible, and didn’t involve any of the new techniques I explained above. So when I heard that Girl Talk was putting on a free show at an intimate venue, I knew I had to get tickets. I had to see if he still could go back to those smaller days.

In April of 2008 I saw him at a venue called “Toad’s Place.” The similarities between “The Blind Pig” and Toad’s are striking: both have seriously impressive history (Gillis tweeted a picture of the Nirvana poster at the Blind Pig after the show) and each can only hold around 100-200 people. Both concerts also enlisted talented opening performances, I saw Passion Pit in ’08 and People Under the Stairs on Wednesday. Gillis also invited half of the audience to join him on stage in both shows, and provided the crowd with non-stop fun.

I have to admit the music was much better when I saw him in New Haven. This time around he focused on his most recent album All Day, which is my least favorite Girl Talk record. He salvaged this by exhibiting a wealth of new music that I, and probably few others in the crowd, had never heard before, which gives me infinite hope for his next release. These new mashups were as magnificent as some tracks off Night Ripper, including samples from songs such as “No Hands, Dance (ASS), Shout!, Work Out” and even a combination of Tyler, The Creator’s “Yonkers” and Lil Wayne’s “Stuntin,” which was downright brilliant.

What set the two shows apart was the experience. Wednesday night passed in a frenzy that only plays back in my head in a very blurry, sweaty mess. The crowd literally moved and swayed as one unit, plastered together by the confetti, toilet paper and mist that was continuously sprayed on us by Gillis’s two assistants, who used leaf blowers and electric paint rollers to bombard the fans. As if this was not enough, they also released a number of balloons and beach balls into the audience, further clouding any type of mental and visual clarity. At one point I was following a particular balloon’s progress through the crowd when the lights rose and absorbed everything in their glares, ending in a burst of confetti that splattered myself and everyone around me. I searched around, frantically looking for the balloon, only to realize it had popped and exploded into the millions of scraps of colored papaer that had previously been trapped inside. Mind-blowing moments such as that one were the reason this show was such a unique experience. This feeling magnified during the last few moments of the show.

The end came without any notice. Suddenly, the tension escalated. The beat began, spinning faster and faster until it consumed the entire room. An overwhelming cacophony of indistinguishable noise. The confetti was a whirlwind of color. Outstretched forearms illuminated in their silhouettes against the inexplicably bright blue and white lights, imposed there, seemingly for eternity, until the all-encompassing wave of energy overtook the crowd, mere humans unable to even slightly withstand the magnitude of pressure swirling in cool breezes throughout the air until— a moment of darkness. The strain broke. The noise ceased. The crowd rested for a moment, finally still. Weaved together as one unit. Grasping for comprehension.