Dâm Funk's music is the type of music that just makes you want to dance, preferably with a large group of enthusiastic people. He plays feel-good '70s-style funk with a synthetic edge that loosens shoulders while simultaneously crafting a hyperactive environment. It makes standing still seem both foolish and impossible. Tunes like “Let’s Take Off (Fly Away)” put that perception into song, urging listeners to lose control and let the Funk (capital F) take over. On Wednesday night at the Bowery Ballroom, the crowd followed directions beautifully.
The night started out with a solid set from DJ Spinna, which soon gave way to the excellence of Peanut Butter Wolf, a Stones Throw jockey who spun old school funk tunes to get the crowd into motion. Posters advertising the show had urged audience members to get to the Bowery early, and the venue was nearly at capacity early in the evening. As a strikingly good-looking and diverse crowd watched, Peanut Butter Wolf pumped a video set featuring Prince, Rick James and other classic jams in sync with a video projection screen. The timing was impeccable—watching lip-sync karaoke has never been so enjoyable. Highlights of the video set included a touching tribute to Gang Starr’s Guru (who recently emerged from a coma), as well as a fun excerpt from Michael Jackson’s Captain Eo.
Without missing a beat, Dâm Funk supplanted Peanut Butter Wolf on stage, taking his place behind a keyboard synthesizer. He played a few bars of “Hood Pass Intact” solo, as members of his live band—under the name Master Blazter—crept onto the stage. It was Dâm’s Master Blazter-backed debut, and as soon as the first drum pop cracked out over the stage, I knew we were in for a treat. With the band behind him, Dâm was a man on a mission who was not going to be stopped.
That mission, like all Funk missions, was from outer space. With laser lines and starscape graphics splayed out behind him, Dâm swirled electric grooves and transported the audience to other worlds, absorbed in the riffs he laid down on his keytar-styled Roland synthesizer. He’s known for his signature LA party called Funkmosphere for a reason; on Wednesday, Dâm made the atmosphere of the Bowery pretty damn funky.
Dâm was a schizophrenic vision on stage, criss-crossing the stage fueled by booze and Funk. Alternating between synth, keys, and keytar, he shouted along with hits from his recent dual disc LP Toeachizown, sweating and contorting with the music. He tossed up funk signs echoed by the crowd, at times standing still for extended periods of time, arms raised, reveling in the noise of it all.
The show bled into itself—funk groove mixing with funk groove until songs were nearly indistinguishable—but the crowd didn’t waver. After a ninety-minute set, rowdy fans called Dâm back to the stage for a three-song encore. “We didn’t expect this,” said Peanut Butter Wolf, killing time before Dâm and Master Blazter returned. “Thank you so much.” Dâm finished out the evening with “Am I Gonna Make It,” his collaboration with Nite Jewel. “Am I gonna make it home tonight?” he sang, asking the crowd to shout “Say yeah!” It was a call and response that was answered weakly—not because the crowd didn’t hear him, but because they didn’t want to go home.
