| « Chicago (and the Region) at SXSW 2011 - Bands & Showcases | Some of That Ol' Flamenco Magic » |
Review Mon Mar 07 2011
Review: Girl Talk @ Congress Theater 3/5/11
Photos by Steve Stearns
Greg Gillis has a sweet gig and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone to argue that point. Every night is a party for Gillis —performing under the pseudonym Girl Talk — and he's always at the center of it. Gillis has been dominating the world of mash-up — a genre that he helped to create — for almost 7 years now. On Nov. 15, 2010, Girl Talk surprised everyone in the best way by releasing All Day, the DJs newest album — released for free download (via Illegal Art) with no prior advertising.
This weekend Girl Talk made his triumphant return to Chicago. GT has played some legendary shows here in the past, so it's no surprise that he was able to sell out the 4,000-person-capacity Congress Theater two nights in a row.
Photos by Steve Stearns
Boasting a giant LED wall that made for an impressive light show and spinning cuts from both his newest album and previous efforts, Saturday's show was very true to form for Girl Talk. The lack of multiple band members or instruments would typically make for a fairly bare stage, however Gillis combats any on-stage loneliness with an invitation to the crowd to join him. Girl Talk plays his entire sets surrounded by a mob of tireless, sweaty, dancing concert-goers.
Photos by Steve Stearns
However, in a recent interview with the Sun-Times, Gillis admitted that once the shows started getting bigger, the need for increased crowd control presented itself. Invites to dance it out onstage are now randomly given out to a limit of 50 attendees before GT's set begins. In the past, concert goers have had the option of freely hopping on and offstage throughout the show, but when a room of 4,000 hyped up (and, in many cases, intoxicated) ticket holders are all clamoring for the chance to rub shoulders with the headliner it's not hard to fathom why a more controlled approach might become necessary.
Photos by Steve Stearns
That's not to say Girl Talk is getting too big for his fans though. Saturday's show had a very communal feel to it. Everyone was dancing, singing along to the vocal samples Gillis mixed in and having a good — likely even great — time.
Ben / March 9, 2011 10:52 AM
that's funny; i heard a lot of people were frustrated that he only played for just a bit over an hour or so.