With the floor next to the stage packed with fans so tight it was hard to move an elbow, when it came time to dance during Girl Talk, the Canopy Club felt like it was literally a rainforest because of the heat. But Girl Talk’s innovative dance mash-ups made the audience forget about the beads of sweat running down their face. All Gregg Michael Gillis (known by the stage name Girl Talk) needed was his laptop to get the fans bobbing their arms and singing along. Girl Talk was able to combine all types of genres and even mixing popular rock songs like Creep, I Believe in a Thing Called Love, and Under the Bridge to go along with hypnotic dance beats.
The first act, which started a little after an hour and a half after the doors open, had a completely different style. Common Loon, a two-piece band comprised of guitarist/lead singer Robert Hirschfeld and drummer Matt Campbell had an indie style. Hirschfeld’s crafty riffs were on display, and apparent as he held the whammy bar in his strumming hand, so each time he strummed the whammy bar gave off a spacey sound. This clash of styles between the motivating dance jams of Girl Talk lead the audience to sound a little quiet during a couple songs of Common Loon’s set. But the bright and colorful, jammed out version of Madonna’s Material Girl closed Common Loon with an energetic prelude to Girl Talk.
The anticipated Girl Talk came on to the stage and stood on the table aside his laptop to pump up the crowd, as if that was even needed. He jumped right down and started blasting unique and upbeat versions of popular songs. Throughout the night balloons bounced around in the sea of crowd, confetti showered the sweat soaked fans, and an air gun was launching toilet paper. Girl Talk shifted his weight from side to side for most of the show, making him look like a cardio workout instructor. With his eyes on the laptop, the grooves he played kept the audience moving. But the finale may have been the most powerful moment of the set, when John Lennon’s Imagine was mixed and all the people on stage and on the dance floor seemed to unify when they sang along to this chorus.
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