The Verse’s Lorenzo Ottone tells us what he thought of 2ManyDJs at Concorde 2 on 26th January 2018.
Soulwax’s side project 2ManyDJs kept Concorde 2 raving until morning with their unique indie and disco classics house remixes.
When a gig audiences’ average age is older than your mates, you take it as a sign of either something sophisticated for connoisseurs or something outrageously pop and nostalgic. When, then, you bump into a lecturer – who has been teaching you for three years – who is raving in a packed Concorde 2, you know it must be something halfway between the two. And that’s actually what 2ManyDJs are.
The Dewaele brothers are both cherished by a connoisseurs niche in virtue of their extraordinary experimental work with Soulwax, but at the same time hugely popular among club music lovers – their sets which have become an electronic establishment in the last 16 years.
Here are five things I learnt from 2ManyDJs’ outstanding set at Concorde 2:
1. Keep the audience on their toes
Play with intros and effects between one song and another. Let the audience crave the next song. Fellow alumni Fatboy Slim’s old mantra ‘Build it up, tear it down’ always applies and proves to be a winning strategy.
2. Don’t exaggerate with the classics
2ManyDJs have built their fame on dance floor anthem remixes, but they have been clever not to overplay classic crowd-pleaser, proving they’ve got more to offer than a Hot Chip remix. You don’t actually want your set to turn into a nostalgic karaoke night. Also, do not let the whole sampled track play like you were spinning records at your local pub. Give the audience a taste, tease them and then unleash your remix if you want to make a difference.
3. Team work pays off
Personally I’m not the greatest team player, but when it comes to DJ-ing and I have a sparring partner, things turn into great fun both behind and in front of the console. Sharing decks is an incredibly enriching and mind-opening experience. Showing complicity with your DJ partner gives extra credit to your set and you could clearly see the Dewaele brothers have been sharing decks for 20 years so far. Crowds love a DJ who dances along to the tunes and interacts with them and this is so much easier and funnier to do when there’s someone looking at your back.
4. Leave the bangers to the end
Whether you are a recently-formed band or even the less-skilled DJ you probably already know that the best tunes must be left at the bottom of the set-list. Don’t be afraid to repeat a cliché because the masters do it too. In the last part of the set, 2ManyDJs dropped remixes of Blur’s Girls and Boys, New Order’s Blue Monday and Tame Impala’s Let it Happen, causing the audience to unleash their last energy into a dance frenzy finale.
5. Be stylish
Whatever you do, do it in style. Even if you’re blasting house in front of a frantically raving audience, wear your suit and tie like 2ManyDJs – an unusual but absolutely winning outfit for electronic music DJs which adds a certain class to the set. Eye-catching animated graphic projections also contribute to a show’s aesthetic.
