Real Live Action

Justice + Midnight Juggernauts

w/

Commodore Ballroom; October 21, 2007

Review By Cole Johnston


Hipsters gone wild! The Midnight Juggernauts rocked pretty hard, but the people were there for Justice. With tickets selling out almost as quickly as a Spice Girls reunion tour, the Commodore was the place to be on Saturday night. And with good reason. A live Justice show is pretty similar to a live Daft Punk show—when it comes down to it, it’s just Justice deejaying a bunch of their own tracks. And yet, like Daft Punk, it comes across as much more than that. It somehow feels like a punk rock show. Maybe it was the giant glowing cross built into their synths and mixers, maybe it was the security guards struggling to keep the crowd back. But this was no ordinary uninspired DJ set.

At times concertgoers got the sense that something live was missing (perhaps Uffie?), and that maybe the months of hype was driving a lot of the crowd into a frenzy. It’s true what they say: Hipsters on ecstasy are crazy and many innocent audience members have the bruises and bloody t-shirts to prove it. When did a Justice set turn into a Dead Boys concert? As soon as “We Are Your Friends” started, like a Virgin Mobile ad, the moshing was not far behind. The band got a lot of play out of that vocal hook, as well as its Argento-sampled noise fest “Phantom,” which went on for a good 20 minutes with no complaints fromt he crowd. Justice covered their bases with a brief, but memorable, remix of “ D.A.N.C.E.” and the 2005 remix of Scenario Rock’s “Schizo Dancer.” This show may not have been worth the $100-$150 tickets for sale on Craigslist, but it was a good time for all. Especially the hipsters.