The Crystal Method Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles—09/26/98
Virgin in the Rave Jungle
Never having been to a rave in my life, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Would people be dropping like flies from overdoses? Would a dreaded E be dropped into my drink? How the hell do people listen to hours of thump thump thumping anyway? You could be laughing reading this, thinking "Oh, you dumbass, even chili commercials now feature techno." From Volkswagon to Hormel, a marketing trend is in the air.
What a fool I was. What fun the concert was. In the cavernous Shrine Auditorium, home of the Academy Awards, the setting was perfect. Openers Lunatic Calm were certainly entertaining, but as their set went on they proved annoying. They don’t have it all together yet, and their sound hasn’t gelled into anything cohesive as far as I’m concerned.
The Crystal Method, however, changed me. What struck me was how everything was in synch: the music, the lights, the happy tapping feet of the audience. The Method established a definite mood, and pulled us in with them. There were several highlights, including Busy Child & Keep Hope Alive. They know who they are and what they’re doing, and goddamnit, they do it well, and we, sweaty afficionados, just bopped our heads along.
So here I am, from virgin to devoted convert in a little less than three hours. Certain moments exist, known only to the performer and the concert goer, when everyone is connected, if only briefly. Some bands can never muster the strength to do it. It’s that moment during a show, when you’re focussed. Where you don’t notice the asshole who keeps bumping into you, or the beer all over the floor that could cause you to fall and break your neck in two, never to walk again.That moment that makes the $60 bucks, the drive, and the interminable wait worth it.
We can only hope that the Method will be here to take us into the Millenium with their sounds.
