Ty Fife
tfife@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

Going to a good dubstep or electronic show, having some drinks and dancing is my kind of thing, but being able to go and do this in Grand Junction has pretty much been an epic fail. There have been a few shows here and there, but none of them with a large turnout or a lot of hype, so when I heard that Robotic Pirate Monkey was coming to town, I was immediately stoked, but also a little skeptical. They are a group I have wanted to see since I missed them at Snowball almost two years ago, but I wasn’t sure if Grand Junction was ready to pull together a crowd for someone other than Tech N9ne.
An EDM scene in Grand Junction? I wasn’t even sure if it was possible, but by 10 Friday night, I was convinced that it could happen. The dance floor was already over half full, strobes and lasers were lighting the crowd and the first DJ hadn’t even left the stage yet. I almost forgot I was in Grand Junction for a while.
It didn’t really seem like it took the crowd any time at all to warm up like it would at a metal or hip-hop show. Right after DJ Tree started spinning his fusion of trap and dubstep and the fire poi performers left the dance floor, people flooded in and started to party.
Following DJ Tree and another fire poi performance was local dubstep duo Pretty Ugly. They played a lot heavier set than DJ Tree, and this is when the party really began to heat up with the crowd having time to “loosen” up a little.
Finally, around midnight, the time came for the trio from Boulder to make their first Grand Junction appearance. They did not disappoint and played their heavy melodic bass for over an hour to come back out for an encore after the crowd wanted to hear more and refused to leave.
EDM shows have a different feel than any other show I’ve ever been to. People are willing to dance and have a good time, so it is good to see that this is something Grand Junction was up to. I hope this is just the first of many to come. Thank you, Robotic Pirate Monkey, for showing me that a dubstep show in Grand Junction was possible.