Um, isn’t it a school night?
Text/Photos by Andrew Parks
While it’s easy to accuse Justice of pandering to the lowest common lunkhead denominator (another bro-down set of serrated synth lines, climaxing in “We Are Your Friends” and “D.A.N.C.E.”? really?), such joyless cynicism–something we’ve been guilty of in the past, admittedly–completely misses the point.
If anything, Justice deserves our undying praise for constantly pleasing crowds rather than just themselves. Much like the rock ‘n’ roll bands they emulate and worship–much more than, you know, actual dance acts–Justice exists to play that song, the one you were listening to when you lost your virginity on the dancefloor. Not literally, of course. We mean the second you stopped acting like a soulless, sexless hipster and started getting real … uncoordinated looking.
And you know what? That’s okay. Because “We Are Your Friends” is a chest-beating anthem to this day for a reason; because “D.A.N.C.E.” is a Motown tune re-rubbed for the E-tard Generation; and because “Phantom” makes us feel invincible–like Hasselhoff in his Knight Rider years or a pair of Parisians in cooler-than-thou leather jackets.
As for why we decided to make this an “S/T Survived” post rather than a simple review, you’ll see what we mean in the shots below. As has been the case with nearly every Ed Banger event we’ve attended in the past, Thursday’s Justice set was largely a star-fucking display of post-Last Night’s Party egocentrism on the crowd’s part. As much as Gaspard and Xavier were being worshiped for the entirety of their 80-minute set (hell, we even swooned when they cued the Strokes’ “Reptilia” at the set’s start, and bits of the Prodigy to please Maxim and Liam, who are in town mastering their new record), the stage’s seething assembly of ‘VIPs’ couldn’t help but treat every moment like a “look at me!” photo op.
Eh; at least everyone had a good time, which is more than we can say for most of what electronica‘s amounted to for the past decade.
Now, can you guess how many times a cigarette will be artfully lit and puffed by G&X in the closest they’ll ever come to James Dean poses?
