Thursday, July 24 – Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver

Pittsburgh, Pa., DJ Gregg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, brought the party to the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver on Thursday, July 24. The highly-anticipated event was sold out weeks in advance, and it was thanks to our friends over at Sealed with a Kiss that two of us ‘Beez got in.

A long line was formed outside the venue by 10 p.m., and inside, openers Twin Crystals were makin’ a whole lotta racket that the crowd flooding in didn’t seem to be feelin’. I don’t mean to be a hater, but the thrash guitar, almost screamo sounds of Twin Crystals just didn’t seem to be a good lead up to the pop/ hip-hop/ electro vibe of Girl Talk. Luckily, after the band’s question, “So, do you guys want to hear another song?” was met with a significant amount of boos, Twin Crystals left the stage, and a local DJ spun some cool and relaxed reggae beats that got the hipsters out onto the dance floor.

Girl Talk set up promptly. Nothing fancy – just his basic DJ equipment on a single table, and started the show at 11 p.m. The crowd went absolutely wild as he shouted, “What’s up, Vancouver? So glad so many of you came out on a Thursday!” and threw on T.I.’s “What You Know About That.”

He quickly changed up his set almost every 20 seconds. He’d just roll into the next song, and you’d just feel this energetic uproar in the room. With the bass turned up real high, Girl Talk went from Sinead O’Conner’s “Nothing Compares,” to N.E.R.D’s “Everyone Nose,” to playing the popular riff from Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So.” But he never dwelled on a track for too long. Girl Talk would often just play a hint of the riff or the recognizable beat from a song, get the crowd goin’ on that and then unexpectedly switch to the next riff and beat. He got a great rhythm going and was just feeding off the energy of the crowd. I must say, I hadn’t seen Vancouver so ecstatic at a show in quite some time.

Next, Girl Talk decided to take the party to another level and invited as many kids as he could to dance up on stage and crowd around him. His DJ’ing posture is totally hunched over, so even though there were sweaty screamin’ kids bumpin’ up against him, it looked like he had a way of feeding off that energy but tuning out the distractions. A true party maker. Switched it up to some hip-hop, spinning Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” mixed with Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” and a Jay-Z crossed Radiohead track called “Set It Off” off his newest album, Feed the Animals. Actually, he played almost all the tracks off his new album, including the crowd-pleasing “Still Here” and “What It’s All About.”

When the party on stage got too hot for security to handle, Girl Talk had to shut the party down and ask everyone on stage to get off. But that didn’t seem to stop his party. As soon as security gave him the OK, he asked, “You guys wanna hear some dark shit?” As the crowd went wild with their arms up in the air, Girl Talk started spinning Daft Punk’s “Music Sounds Better With You,” (not very dark, I know), but then he moved onto Three 6 Mafia’s “Stay Fly,” Khia’s “My Neck My Back,” Shawty Lo’s “Dey Know” and Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop.” Of course, “Lollipop” was the opening for “Play Your Part Pt. 2” off of Feed the Animals, so Girl Talk ended his set with the epic Journey song “Faithfully” mixed with UGK with Outkast’s “International Player’s Anthem (I Choose You).” By the end of this set, Girl Talk was up on his table, topless, sweaty and a bit Jesus-y lookin’. He thanked the crowd, as everyone rocked and raised their hands to the epic finale, before he ran off stage.

As the lights slowly came on and the 1,000 who was there took to the streets lookin’ like they’d just been through it, it was clear that Girl Talk had just made his impact on Vancouver once again. And despite how sweaty and exhausted everyone looked, there was no doubt that they were all anticipating the next Girl Talk show.

A big thank you goes out to Sealed with a Kiss as they continually bring in some of the best acts and shows that Vancouver has experienced. Check out their website here: www.sealedwithakisspresents.com more info on upcoming shows.

*More photos of the show on the Killahbeez Flickr page.