This past weekend, trap kings Flosstradamus brought their Hi-Def Youth Tour to NYC and played two shows in Brooklyn (10/21 & 10/22). The tour is homage to the duo's launch of their record label Hi Def Youth, which released Party Thieve's Undrafted EP back in May.
Floss has been killing the EDM stage production game since 2014 with their HYDNATION tour which came equipped with a junk-yard apocalyptic stage production. This time around, the duo (Autobot and J2K) proved they could create a bigger, badder set for the Hi-Def Youth Tour -- The Bunker, a moving 40x15-foot military bunker replica complete with a t-shirt cannon, steel satellite, and spotlights.
I caught their Friday show and saw the Bunker in all its glory for the second time (The Bunker also made an appearance at Panorama Festival this past July). The show took place at Brooklyn Hangar, a warehouse venue with 13,000+ square feet of space. Surprisingly, the venue wasn't as packed as I anticipated and it was relatively easy to navigate to the front barricade which was only a few feet away from the stage. Floss got the crowd going with originals like M.F.U. and PILLZ and continued to heat things up throughout thenight with fan-favorites such as Mosh Pit, Prison Riot and Lighters Up. The night was full of trap beats, but not 100%. Floss made sure to play non-trap tracks like Ookay's Thief, Yeezy's All of the Lights, Flux Pavilion's I Can't Stop and Galantis' U & I.
After a set that lasted a little longer than 90 minutes, Floss shot t-shirts into the crowd with the cannon (shout-out to Raven who caught one) and left the venue. Everyone was a tiny bit disappointed that they didn't play an encore, but overall Floss put on a great show like always. The light show was mediocre, especially due to the confines of the warehouse. However, that was made up with Floss' awesome crowd engagement and stage presence (props to J2K as the resident hype-man) as well as Autobot's DJ mixing, which kept the audience partying, dancing and moshing all night.
I'm still unsure if the underwhelming audience turnout can be attributed to the show location or if Floss is simply dying in popularity; IMO, Brooklyn Hangar isn't a go-to venue for big names like Flosstradamus. Regardless, Floss gets my respect as performers and producers who are doing their best to keep trap alive. Looking forward to seeing how the rest of shows lined up for the tour go.
