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07/22 Nurko at Skyway Theatre
Tour Dates
July 29 — Atlanta, GA — Believe Music Hall
August 3 — Salt Lake City, UT — Therapy Thursday August 4 — Houston, TX — 9PM August 5 — Austin, TX — Kingdom August 12 — Chicago, IL — Concord August 26 — Honolulu, HI — HB Social Club Read More
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The question is whether there is enough entertainment value to watch a musician stand behind a bank of mixers and computers all night. The answer is absolutely yes for along with the light show and propulsive music there is the audience. Those who go to EDM shows create the spectacle: girls in bikinis; groups in matching bowling shirts; edible bracelets; fluorescent beach balls; daffy hats, eclectic eyewear and midsummer costumes to create an iridescent ball.
ETHOS XCIX aka Eric Thompson opened the evening with a gathering crowd. Based in Minneapolis his songs got the everyone moving before announcing the title of the song as being “Nightmares” or “Suicidal.” Incongruous? Not really for on his website he believes it his mission to reach out to those in dark places with uplifting music.
Red Comet aka Andy Denk next took the stage with heavy beats and Japanese anime which seemed to electrify the crowd whenever they saw their favorite characters briefly flash on the screen. Denk kept up the energy and at times it was difficult to determine who was having more fun: the crowd swaying to the music or Denk pumping his fist.
Denk explained at the end of his set that it was probably the best show of his life for it was not too long ago that he lost his father to a heart attack and he seriously considered giving up music. But based on the audience reaction to his set, it looks like he made the right decision to continue.
Crystal Skies was up next. They are a duo of Aaron Dawson out of Denver and Brian Holcomb out of Minneapolis. Unless the rising smoke and humidity were starting to affect me, it looked like only Holcomb made it to the stage. No matter, the crowd was still into melodic dubstep with little said from the man behind the console.
Although few words were mentioned, Holcomb did say in a DJ Times interview in April of 2021 that he sees creating music as more than a paycheck: “Music has been one of the main things to help me keep perspective on everything and avoid becoming overwhelmed with the situation.”
The headliner finally took the stage well past the bewitching hour and long after “Cinderella” had to leave the ball.
Nurko aka Jack Leech aka Jackson Leech Nurković is a New Jersey native who has been actively involved in the EDM scene since 2015. His sound has been catalogued as Future Bass, meaning melodic, airy and euphoric, just the adjectives needed to keep a dance party going.
Starting out as a DJ, Nurković has slowly started to branch out by first remixing popular songs (Halsey’s “Nightmare”), then collaborating with others (His collaboration with ILLENIUM and Valerie Broussard, “Sideways”, debuted #6 Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic chart and has amassed over 40 millions streams to date.), and now touring with his own music with Discovery, an EP that was released in June.
What was impressive was how nimble he was, playing a quick snippet of a song you knew, but before you could place the name, he was off in another direction like a sneaky NBA guard, dribbling the ball behind his back before splitting two defenders with the narrowest of seams.
He made the music dazzle and fun, as he told EDM Identity in January of 2022: “Music is freeing. It is an escape.”
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Ethos XCIX |
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Red Comet |
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Crystal Skies |
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Nurko at Skyway Theatre, Minneapolis (22 July 2023) |
| dave ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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