Last year, there was one of those "freestyle revival" shows out in the Philly area that my wife wanted to go to. Short story short, we never made it, but I made for damn sure that the next time one of those shows came to the area, we were going. I let you guys know last month that Trenton's Sovereign Bank Arena was holding the Wired 96.5 Freestyle Invasion, with a massive number of artists, from TKA, George Lamond and Shannon to David of Nice & Wild, Rockell, Sa-fire and the lovely Debbie Deb, who posed in the picture above with my wife and myself.If you're not up on Freestyle, you probably don't live on the East Coast, or don't have Latin friends who grew up in the 80s. It's essentially Club music, but with an ill Pop-feel, with a host of good singers adding catchy hooks and lyrics to the infectious beats. While it still thrives in the clubs in my surrounding areas, as well as on the radio, it seems like heads outside of the NJ/NY/Philly areas (as well as spots like Miami) don't really know about it. Those who know, though, come out in DROVES! The Arena was packed last night, with mad Freestyle heads singing every word, dancing up and down the aisles, which I rarely see anymore. True heads really getting into this sound that many might not be into? It was ill, and I'm not the biggest Freestyle fan.
Debbie Deb is a classic example of what Freestyle is about. She started out in 1984 with two club staples: "When I Hear Music" and "Lookout Weekend", but due to the usual label politics and bullshit, she ended up not eating off of her huge tracks like she should've, but almost left the scene entirely. Hearing her last night, you'd think she wouldn't be as on point as she was. Her voice sounds just as good as it does on those classic 45s; just check her performing "When I Hear Music" live last night:
You hear that crowd, singing every word? It was like that for every track! I was looking for my wife after the first intermission, and snapped a pic of Deb, who was meeting and greeting with fans in the lobby; I told her my wife was rockin' during her performance, and she was like "where she at!?" - so my ass, I ran and got her. Snapped the above pic; Deb also said she's got some new music up on her MySpace - I recommend you check it out!
One of the things I wasn't feeling was the sound - in some spots, it felt like there wasn't enough bottom to the bass, it was more mids, like they weren't rockin' with the right amount of sound there. That wasn't the kicker, though - the boy David (of Nice & Wild) fame, he was performing the classic "Diamond Girl", but ran into some issues - mainly the soundguy (or someone) futzing with the sound. I'm not sure what he was going for - the beat slowed down at one point, he had some chick with a guitar our there rockin'; here's the damn-near 9 minute performance, complete with David walking off stage:
He came back on later, and ended up giving a similar performance. Sa-fire also had audio difficulties, but ended up singing acapella, which the crowd loved! The event ended with TKA (complete with corny entrance), but most of the heads were leaving the arena at that point. All-in-all, a fun event, and definitely something my wife loved going to - she danced for the better part of the night, and I just smiled, sippin' on the Henny flask, glad she had a good time.
Freestyle lives!
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