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The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

Moombahton Massive hits the Metro

Size isn’t everything-a small crowd isn’t necessarily a testament to what’s happening on stage. And so was the case at Moombahton Massive, the third installment of One Night Stand’s 18+ moombahton dance parties, Sunday, May 27.

This round brought back Nadastrom; the DJ duo from Washington D.C. comprised of Matt Nordstrom and Dave Nada, the founder of the genre; along with co-headliner DJ Sabo. Hats off to One Night Stand and the Metro for continuously supporting moombahton, an underdog subgenre of electronic dance music. The Metro floor was sparsely populated with young dancers, but the crowd seems to grow in size and energy with each moombah event.

Opening the show was local duo Team Bayside High followed by Jay Fay. The act bridging openers and headliners was local DJ and birthday boy Willy Joy.

Dave Nada, after casually watching the openers from the middle of the Metro floor beside Nordstrom and Sabo, presented Willy Joy a tray of birthday cupcakes before his set (a set including tons of Chicago-style hip-hop and new, original songs). The show was less of a concert for strangers and more of a party for friends. Granted, a party with world-class DJs blasting exclusive new tracks through towering, A+-quality speakers.

The headliners collaborated for a truly co-headlining experience. The DJ booth had both Nadastrom and Sabo together for the remainder of the night behind the little Apple laptop and expansive display of knobs and other equipment.

The crowd, a mostly 18-year-old-looking spread with a few displaced kandi kid ravers sprinkled in, was dancing. Actually dancing. A refreshing change of pace from raging, head-bangers at dubstep shows or grinding teenagers listening to house DJs. Again, more a party, not a concert.

The headliners rotated around behind the booth, dropping tracks from Nadastrom’s “Save Us”-which samples Chicago house legend “percolator” Cajmere, perhaps a purposeful move in his hometown-to Munchi’s moombahton anthem “Sandungueo.” The slower tempo dembow beat definitive of the genre stayed consistent through the set, topped off with Spanish-language vocal samples, whistles, sirens-the whole party-starting shebang. Even big-time electro tracks like Major Lazer’s “Original Don” were moombahtonized onstage by the trio.

The clock rounded 2:30 a.m. as Nadastrom and Sabo dropped new track after new track, including bits all three guys collaborated on in the studio. As expected, the crowd thinned out by then, but the stragglers kept dancing. Still, the straggling crowd has continued to grow over the months. Come this time next year, and the packed Metro goers will reminisce over the original moombahton crew who’ve been dancing since Nadastrom’s first drop.
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