I hadn’t heard of Dutch electro artist Joost Klein until a month ago when I heard him mentioned by a local high schooler. I asked my stepdaughter about him and she almost jumped out of her chair. “I love Joost!” she said and was even more thrilled when we learned he was playing in Chicago. The show was originally scheduled for Thalia Hall, but as you can see from that photo, they realized they needed a lot more space for the 3,000+ who showed up at The Salt Shed.
First on the bill was a DJ of sorts – ipadkid2001. I write “of sorts” because I’m not sure if this chap was a DJ or someone pretending to be a DJ. It might have been an act. The crowd was so jazzed that they screamed when ipadkid2001 just turned on the light above his turntables. He played an odd mix of songs, ranging from drum and bass bangers to The Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” Most of these songs weren’t played all the way through. They were usually snippets or perhaps two verses and a chorus. At one point he played vocal samples that stated, “This is my first time DJing. I don’t know what I’m doing.” and “Wow, ipadkid, that transition was terrible.” I was willing to believe the first statement, and the second was accurate. There were so many awkward transitions between tracks that I wasn’t sure if they were intentional or not. Again, was all this a parody? I don’t know, and by the end I don’t think the audience knew.
Klein’s DJ, DJ Chool, played a set that was so short that I wondered why he even bothered. I mentioned this to my stepdaughter, who rightly stated, “He’s just warming up for Joost.” He was both a DJ and a hype man, who was having a blast dancing around the stage for the few moments he had it to himself.
Klein ran out on stage as soon as DJ Chool got back to his decks and the crowd went bonkers as he began with “Ome Robert” (otherwise known as the lovely ballad “Suck My Ditch, Bitch.”).
The whole show was as crazy as the opening number. Klein twice told the audience to look out for each other in the crowd and stay hydrated, once stopping before he started a new song so someone could be removed from near the front due to them being overheated.
My stepdaughter was delighted to hear “1,” and the younger folks in the crowd went nuts when he played a version of Crazy Frog’s “Axel F” while this Gen X’er was amused and baffled. I later told my stepdaughter, “I feel like I should know the story of the crazy frog.” Her response was, “It’s an old YouTube video.” I later learned it’s a Swedish animated character from Eurodance.
Other fun highlights were “Tetetetete” – a Spanish song as a salute to Cinco de Mayo, the “We can all relate to this” track “TRAFIK!” (about being stuck in traffic), and the “We can relate even more to this” cut “Capitalism :D” (about both hating and needing work).
“Zonder Jou” and “Europapa” were other big hits for the crowd. It was a fun show, and one that hadn’t been on my radar. Klein was genuinely appreciative of the crowd and response, commenting multiple times on how he was stunned by the number of people who showed up.
Be prepared to dance, and laugh, if you can catch him. It’s a good time.
Keep your mind open.
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