2 Many DJs made their second visit of the year to Dublin last Friday night in the form of a sold out intimate gig in The Academy. I have seen them numerous times over the last few years so I had expectations for the gig based on past experiences. Ultimately I was left disappointed, not only with the gig but with the crowd.

The night started off with a DJ to get the crowd going and even before 2 Many DJs took to the stage, the place was packed. I had the luxury of being upstairs so I could take in everything that was happening. The DJ was quite good and it helped build up the excitement. The Dewaele brothers made no big entrance to the stage and had the crowd not erupted in applause, it would have been difficult to distinguish where the DJ ended and 2ManyDJs started. They started the set with a mix of one of my favourite songs ‘Dominator’. I headed downstairs to mingle with the crowd for the full experience. Moving was difficult and I spent more time avoiding people falling on me than enjoying the gig. It calmed down after a few minutes and I was able to move to a more secluded spot to catch my breath.

For the most part it was just techno beats and indistinguishable repetitive tunes, I won’t lie, it was a little boring. Having seen them before, I knew what they were capable of, but I do understand that artists like to branch out and not do the same thing all the time. I can’t blame them for trying something else. There was the odd scrap of familiar tunes thrown in but not much, just enough to stop people admitting defeat and heading home, songs such as MGMT’s ‘Kids’ and Hot Chips ‘Over And Over’.

Looking around though, it appeared most people were so inebriated that they would enjoy anything played and they appeared to be having the time of their lives. During one indistinguishable techno riff a topless man sauntered up to my friend and put his arm around his shoulder and informed him that it was time to put his arms up in the air for the climax, my friend politely declined his offer and we moved away. The crowd in general were just annoying and distracting. People so far gone they couldn’t stand and so they would decide to lean on you instead, people falling over, and people being a mess in general.

I left the gig disappointed having had such high hopes for it. I just felt that it could have been any old DJ playing and no one would have noticed the difference. The spark that they had just wasn’t there. The mix of techno and popular music that they are known for was replaced by just techno, I think that they should go back to what they do best.