Laurent Garnier @ Cielo (10/10/07)

Laurent Garnier finally graced us with his presence after a 3+ year hiatus from the United States. I was fortunate enough to catch him twice in Europe last year - once in Belgium where he played live with horns and strings and once in Barcelona which was for a DJ set at Pacha. The latter turned into one of the most legendary nights of all-time, partially because of Laurent but mostly because The Hand made it's first appearance and I climbed to the *top* of Arago 95 and talked on the green shoe phone. That night will not be forgotten anytime soon. Anyway, back to the present.

Last night Laurent played really diverse, tasteful music which sounded great over Cielo's Funktion One sound system. While he kept it interesting with tidbits of soul, funk, D&B, house and techno, I felt like he played fairly safe and never *went for it*. He kept the night at a 4 of 5 level fairly consistently throughout only getting the crowd into a real frenzy on two occasions - Man with a Red Face (easy) and Song 2 by Blur (even easier). I'm sorry, but I expect a legend like Laurent to be able to get that energy out of an up-for-it-NYC-music-head-crowd with something other than catchy pop lyrics like "woo hoo". Don't get me wrong, I had a really fun time and continue to appreciate Laurent's genius (wicked mixing and great track selection), but when I go out I want to get kicked in the a$$ and that just didn't happen last night.

After Cielo closed it's doors, the NYC crackerati gathered at an undisclosed afterhours location for a few unidentified DJs and Damien Lazarus (not sure who else actually played after I left around 7am). Good times although a bit of a clusterf*ck.