We arrived to the venue around 8pm, which was the time stated on the tickets that the show would begin. I tried finding set times from a great music blog, The Scenestar, but to no avail. None were posted online anywhere. I was worried that the band would be starting at that time, but as most shows I've gone to, that wasn't the case. When we got inside, we noticed that the Galaxy Theatre had 2 separate rooms and an upstairs balcony. In the room nearest to the entrance, they had a bar and a dance floor which had a really good DJ. I met up with a friend and she told me that Crystal Castles would be going on later that night in the main room and that we could just dance in the smaller room. I did for a while, even got myself a drink. The DJ was really fun and he had a resemblance to Ethan from Crystal Castles, so I just had to ask. It wasn't him though.
After dancing for about 20 min, I decided to go check out the opening band. Blok were the opening band. Their website lists them as "experimental dance/party/electronic/hip-hop/pop music", but I just thought it was screaming and electronic music, but then again if you have heard some of the latest Crystal Castles, it isn't that much different. Either way though, I didn't like Blok too much. Saw a couple songs but decided it'd be best to go back to the other room to dance for a bit more.
One thing I was noticing though from the venue and the atmosphere is that the place was just too darn full. I really hope in the promoter's sense that this show was well worth their time, but as a fan, I didn't enjoy myself too much due to this.
Crystal Castles went on later in the night and the only place I could get really close was by the right side of the stage. The Galaxy has sections of standing areas but it mostly seems to be somewhere you can dine at a table or if you're a big shot, reserve a spot. Security was really tight too, but then again, I did say there was a bunch of people.
Crystal Castles began their set and the crowd went wild. From what I could see, they had a live drummer, Ethan was on some sort of DJ equipment, and Alice was just singing/screaming. This music is meant to be danced to and have a good time to. I had a hard time doing either due to how crammed I was in there. I can't recall much of the setlist, but I do know that 'Empathy' was played, so was 'Baptism', 'Celestica', 'Not In Love', and 'Crimewave'. Hopefully later I can update this post with the full setlist.
One thing I noticed about Crystal Castles' performance is that Alice jumps into the crowd just way too often. It seemed to be every song practically. I'm used to performers stage diving/crowd surfing from time to time, but it was getting to be rather ridiculous. I must admit though, I did wish I had been in the front so I might have had the chance to catch her. I forgot my camera so I don't have any photos from the night's show, but I did talk to a girl who said she was shooting professional photos for the OC Weekly. I will link to those when they become available.
Overall, I love Crystal Castles' music. It's great to listen to at a club, party, in your room, in the car, but maybe not live at a concert. Go if you've never seen them before and you've been dying to scratch that off your bucket list as I have. Go if you want to have Alice jump at you during every song. It wasn't a bad night, but it wasn't the best venue for this type of show. I would have preferred it to be at the Music Box in Hollywood.
I leave you with a video I found on YouTube from the show, 'Crimewave'.
-Update-
Setlist via OC Weekly
Set List:
"Intimate"
"Baptism"
"Yes No"
"Reckless"
"Suffocation"
"Black Panther"
"Celestica"
"Empathy"
"Air War"
"Crimewave"
"Courtship Dating"
"Alice Practice"
"Not In Love"
"Doe Deer"
"Untrust Us"
"I Am Made Of Chalk"
