Category: Arts

Elephante returned to his hometown of Ann Arbor on Thursday evening, and what a homecoming he had. The club was packed upon arrival, with a line going out the door even though we arrived late. We walked in, listening to the beat of the electro music grow more intense as we ascended to the main dance area. The club was teeming with people, even though it was only the opener. Girls with LED light-up shoes, guys wearing glo-paint, people dancing to an infectious beat. This was only the warm up, and my friends and I stood on the upper level to soak in the mildly overwhelming sight before entering the fray.

When Elephante came on, we immediately rushed into the center. Tim Wu (Elephante) told us it was great to be back in his hometown performing for people who were willing to come out on this Thursday to see him. For a DJ, he seemed pretty down to earth to me, like even he couldn’t believe how far he’d come since growing up in Ann Arbor. He began the set and the crowd went berserk. Lights began flashing, and suddenly half the crowd had massive foam glowsticks. I’m being honest when I say I have no idea where they originated from; suddenly everyone just had them. Including me! Somehow I found an abandoned glowstick on the ground and was able to wave it about over my head with the rest of them, flashing green then blue then purple.

Elephante’s set was incredible. Most people seemed to be way more dedicated to his music than I am, and knew almost all the words. I wasn’t that aware of all the songs, but did know enough to participate. He took many popular songs and remixed them, which made it easy for crowd involvement. Elephante himself danced around the booth, sometimes playing a song and spending a majority of it dancing. At the end, he signed off and wished us a good night. Everyone immediately started chanting the concert classic: “ONE MORE SONG!” To my surprise, Elephante appeared after about 2 minutes of this chant and told us he would play us a new song, to be released sometime in November. He said it was one he was incredibly proud of, and most of it was produced rather than remixed. The song had a different vibe than the rest of the music he had just performed for us, but it was a good different. It was really good, actually. He played the song and came down to dance with the crowd; people closed in around him and I was swept up in the general movement toward Elephante. I saw him crowd surfing, being tossed around in the air like he was on a trampoline. Afterwards, he returned to the mic and kindly asked that his shoe be returned.

Born in the great city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, EDM DJ/producer Elephante returns to his hometown for a BigRoom and Progressive concert. The concert is at Necto and part of his “Animals Wanted Tour”. More than likely the infectious dance music is going to attract many people and ensure a killer concert; it’s sure to be a zoo on Thursday.

Tim Wu, otherwise known as Elephante, is a Los Angeles-based DJ/producer. His productions range from big-room progressive house anthems to remixes of popular artists including Lorde and Clean Bandit. Wu first learned classical piano before teaching himself guitar, and initially attempted to break into the music industry as an acoustic singer/songwriter before transitioning to electric dance music.

Elephante was a personal favorite for warm-up CDs back in the glory days of high school sports. His songs were full of fun pop vocal tracks, with beats that you couldn’t help but dance to when you heard them. With concert tickets going at a cheap rate, at an incredibly fun and walkable venue, it’s no wonder this concert is selling out quickly.

There’s something nearly unbelievable about witnessing collaboration of the highest caliber. Thursday night, Rackham Auditorium hummed with the reverberations of violins, violas, and celli played by the members of the legendary Emerson String Quartet and the rapidly-rising Calidore String Quartet.

The program consisted of works for 5-8 string players, which guaranteed that every piece involved members of both quartets working together. Even though Emerson has been playing together for a few decades longer than Calidore, there was no sense that musicians in one quartet were stronger than the others: they played together beautifully.

While I questioned their decision to open the concert with slower and  lyrical pieces, I ended up feeling more engaged than I was expecting. Every aspect of their collective sound was so exquisite, every long phrase so artfully constructed that it was difficult to resist being swept up in the ebb and flow. Their blend was so pristine that if I closed my eyes, it became difficult to tell if a melody was getting passed around or stayed on the same instrument.

The first half ended with my favorite part of the concert, the Scherzo from Shostakovich’s String Octet. While Shostakovich’s teacher may have frowned on his student’s harsh writing style, the piece was an absolute head-banger. It was impossible to resist grooving along with Calidore and Emerson.

Mendelssohn’s famous String Octet filled the second half, and watching the eight musicians nod, breathe, and bob together through this monumental work made one feel like the fly-on-a-wall of a lively dinner conversation.

It was incredibly special to share the room with professionals who were professional enough to share the stage. Both groups were more than capable of giving their own concert, as they have already done numerous times, but the fact that they chose to come together, try out new interpretations, and combine their unique approaches is what I believe made the evening so beautiful. I’m thankful that these truly great musicians have recognized that some of the best things happen when you link arms.