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they did come on, probably as you were walking out the door.
Let me start off by saying thank you to De La Soul for salvaging what they could of the night. They put on an outstanding, energetic performance, even though is was brief. They even handed out some beers to the lucky few right up front. I'm young, but I've enjoyed their music growing up. This was my first time seeing them and I'm thankful I got the chance.
Now onto the bad part. I can't believe that a venue would book an artist and not have their equipment in order. That was a complete disgrace. This bar is owned by Bam Margera of MTV's Jackass and Viva La Bam(if you weren't aware). This place booked a hip hop artist, and wasn't prepared for hip hop. They had a CD turntable setup as if they didn't know old school hip hop requires vinyl. The crew proceed to run over to the house dj and grab his tables. This guy must have been some sort of amateur because he pulled out some Playskool My First Dj setup shit that looked like it cost $20. Then the mics weren't working. This whole time, the clock was ticking and people were getting anxious that it was well past 12, and still no De la. The crew then realized that the tables were too low, and tried to prop them up on the cases to elevate them. This became too cluttered with 4 turntables and the mixer and wires running all over the place, so they had to run to the back and get a bigger table. The clock is still ticking. At this point, Maseo comes out to look at the shit and realized the turntables were complete garbage. I watched him desperately try to remove the cartridges and get these tables to work properly about 6 times before he finally gave up. On top of this, the mics still weren't setup right. Maseo looked like he was ready to burst. He finally resorted to pulling out his laptop and using the cd turntables after all, only because it was after 1am and people were getting pissed. They finally came on stage and put on one hell of a 50 minute performance.
On top of all of this, the first opening act was pathetic to say the least. These guys were some kids who looked like they should have been dancing to some soulja boy. There was some scrawny kid in the back who did nothing more than stand there with his hands in his pockets and not move at all. No head bobbing, no swaying, nothing. He was a statue and I still haven't figured out was his purpose was. I happened to be walking into the bar at the same time as them and overheard the bouncer giving them shit because they had minors with them. He informed them that they were to have no alcohol, stay in the back, and leave as soon as they were done. He asked the one who I later found out was the "rapper" if they were friends with De La Soul and the kid responded with "who's that?" Who's that!? How the fuck are you going to open for De La Soul and not know who they are? What a fuckin disgrace.
Anyway, De la was quick to point out that all complaints should be sent to their agent and didn't hesitate to give out his info.
For those that didn't get it, their agent is PETER SCHWARTZ at The AGENCY GROUP.
Email: PeterSchwartz@theagencygroup.com
email this guy and tell him what a screw up he is for not making sure a venue is adequate for his artists.
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