On what felt like the coldest night of the year, Deadmau5’s techno alias Testpilot set New York City ablaze New Years Eve weekend.
On December 30th, Testpilot headlined arguably one of the biggest shows to hit Depot 52 Warehouse in 2017. Joining him were players Sam Allan B2B Mike Charch, Tensnake, and David Berrie. Although the original lineup saw New York legend Dennis Ferrer hitting the decks, a prior injury forced him to cancel last minute, delivering devote fans of Joel Zimmerman an incredible unexpected surprise.
Hosted by Teksupport, we were pleasantly surprised to encounter swiftly moving lines at entry, security, and coat check. Despite freezing temperature outdoors, the heat was fired up inside the Brooklyn warehouse to keep revelers warm and ready for the massive night ahead. There’s a certain dark and alluring aura that needs to be present when it comes to a techno show. Between the opening beats by Sam Allan B2B Mike Charch, hypnotic visuals, and a wave of heat vibrating off of the sea of New Yorkers dressed head-to-toe in black, the ideal scene was laid out for dancers to experience a proper spiral down the rabbit hole. After the openers, Berlin producer Tensnake made his way onto the stage. While his track selection delivered some of his latest releases like “Hello?,” the overall set emitted an eerie and seductive vibe that got the crowd moving. While we could have easily listened to Tensnake play long into the early hours of the morning, you could feel the tension and restlessness of revelers waiting for the headlining Canadian producer to make his New York debut under his techno alias. Around 1:30 am, the crowd got what they wished for —Testpilot took to the stage with guns blazing.
Chest-shattering bass immediately demolished the sound system as Testpilot wasted no time to get right into it. His mastery of production shined through an incredibly sinister set that could easily combat the genre’s most note-worthy players. All in all, it truly was an impressive two hour performance of hard-hitting techno bliss. As 3:15 am crept up on us, he played the crowd-favoriteDeadmau5 remix of Morgan Page’s “The Longest Road,” a similar move he made during his B2B set with Eric Prydz at this past year’s Electric Zoo Festival. But the next move he made was one that no one had anticipated.
In light of Dennis Ferrer’s cancellation, most of us were expecting David Berrie to close up the night at 3 am. Then, sometime between 3:15 and 3:30 am, Testpilot shifted gears to play a full on Deadmau5 set. Shrieks of shock and excitement pierced through the singing crowd as he played classic tracks like “Ghosts n Stuff,” “Maths,” and his iconic “Strobe.” Just when we were sure we’d seen it all, cheeky robotic hand gestures bounced around his backside as he revved up his closing track — wait for it — Avicii’s “Levels.” It was absurd, hilarious, and an epic way to end the night. While some fans were visibly annoyed and making a fuss about this closing track choice, others were laughing and loving every minute of it. Either way, one thing was certain as we eventually made our way back outside into the freezing temperatures, we left feeling over-stimulated and utterly satisfied, wondering how soon Testpilot would make his return to the Brooklyn warehouse with more techno.
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