Last Monday, I had the awesome opportunity to see one of the most famous drum and bass DJs in the world, Netsky! And that’s pronounced net-sky, not net-ski. The 25 year-old Belgian named Boris Daenen adopted his alias from a real-life computer virus. His current tour has been taking him all around the US and Europe, one of his stops being at the House of Blues in downtown San Diego.

As my first time at the House of Blues, I was delighted to take in all the exciting sights that come with entering a new venue. After the entrance, there are two directions to go. Forward, into the bar and balcony area looking down on the stage, or down to the floor of the stage with another bar area behind it. The wide downward staircase, the walls decorated with murals, felt like a stairway down into the depths of some sort of secret underground lair of a concert hall. The small stage had an intimate vibe, especially since the performers would be so close to the audience.

Finally, Netsky himself entered the stage, along with another keyboardist, a drummer, and an energetic and British-accented MC. The MC did a mighty fine job of hyping up the crowd, as he danced and jumped around the stage, and threw in his own cheers to interact with the crowd and get people clapping, jumping, and shouting back. Their setlist was a high-energy explosion of their drum and bass tracks as well as remixes of other artists’ tracks that got everyone’s blood pumping and heads banging. They even brought out singer Billie Bentein to sing the vocals for their collaborated tracks, “We Can Only Live Today (Puppy)” and “Come Alive”. Whether you were standing and bouncing to the drum beat or going crazy in the mosh pits, the show was an incredible amount of fun, and Netsky’s music was uplifting and electrifying to the crowd.

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P.S. Tune in to my show Not for Basics tonight and every Friday night at 8pm for an hour-long electronic music experience!