Situated in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles’ industrial area, at ROW DTLA, the new All My Friends Music festival launched its inaugural show with a night filled with dance classics, R&B and plenty of trap to keep its fans entertained. Organized by DJ and concert promoter Gary Richards, aka Destructo, the night hosted a set-up similar to his former HARD events, albeit smaller, with three stages in relative proximity to each other.
Situated in the middle of the festival on the Friendzone stage at 5:00 pm, Chicago native Monte Booker warmed up the crowd with an assortment of trap songs to get the crowd energized. Lying in the middle of the ROW center, the stage was packed in between four buildings, providing an industrial ambiance, in addition to a better acoustics for the bass heavy anthems that were played throughout the night, as sound was easily able to travel throughout the crowd in a vertical fashion.
Hosting a relatively simple screen set-up as he mixed songs from his DJ booth, the artist dropped a few trap remixes, including one of Kendrick Lamar’s “HUMBLE.,” a tribute to the LA rapper in his hometown, and another of the Kanye West and Estelle hit “American Boy.” His set blended an assortment of R&B and hip-hop with ease, with the crowd bouncing at every bass drop.
Over on the BFF stage at 5:30, English singer/songwriter and DJ Little Boots held a DJ set, mixing in an assortment of tech-house, deep house and even some IDM into her set-list. At the beginning of the set, the artist stated that she “love[d] seeing so many different colors,” in reference to the style of the dress of the attendees, asking the crowd “did you buy those clothes at the same place I did?” The crowd was diverse in a variety of ways hosting a variety of ages, ethnicities and couples: from the more typical LA festival crowd in their early 20’s, to experienced ravers in their 30s and even 40s.
Little Boots started off the set with some bass heavy tech house, with subtle buildups keeping the ground grooving, with people stomping their feet throughout the beat. One enthusiastic convert goer was dressed in nothing but shoes and a neon colored speedo throughout her entire performance, stomping away to though out the set. The artist even gave him a shout out, calling him and another attendee who had been enthusiastically dancing her soulmates.
Back on the Friendzone stage, EDM producer Chris Lorenzo took over the decks mixing in a good amount of electro house and hard hitting techno in between a few hip-hop samples. Lorenzo, like Monte Booker before him, also played some remixes of Kendrick Lamar, throwing down a sample of the 2012 hit “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City,” until the bass dropped with heavy bang and the crowd leaped with excitement.
Every song that was dropped kept the energy high as a variety of deep house, heavy tech house and a bit of trap was played. Among the crowd, one attendee was waving a penis-shaped inflatable statue, entitled the “#PLURPenis,” an amalgamation of old rave cliche’s and degeneracy, which is all fairness was still pretty comedic. Next the DJ dropped the Drake hit single “God’s Plan,” with a spin on the hit, mixing in a heavy electro house beat after the song’s famous “I only love my bed and my momma,” bridge.
Lorenzo also threw out a bit of his own production work throughout the mix, dropping his Anti-Up collab with Chris Lake “Pizza,” a club techno banger reminiscent of other prominent producers like Tiga. At the end of his set Lorenzo dropped a remix of the LCD Soundsystem classic “You Wanted A Hit,” because what kind of a music festival would call itself All My Friends without a hint of LCD Soundsystem?
British radio DJ and host of the world famous BBC Radio One Essential Mix series Pete Tong took over the decks after Lorenzo, starting the crowd off with a dark and synth heavy trance track. Tong’s set was not for the faint of heart, as this opening was very drawn out and moody, some who were unfamiliar with this type of style left the stage, yet the first drop proved that the lengthy build up was well worth it. As the set kept going Tong brought played a lot of older EDM styles mixing in a good amount of trance and older electro, keeping the crowd entertained for the experience.
About thirty minutes into Tong’s set, R&B Singer Jhené Aiko took over on the main AMF Stage, singing an assortment of classic songs, mixed in with new material off her 2017 album Trip. Her stage set up featured a keyboard and drum pad player, and a harpist, creating a more live experience for the event packed with DJ’s.
One of first songs Aiko performed was “Jukai,” off the new album, a soulful yet calm performance which was a welcome relaxation from the energetic night. She continued this laid back vibe with “New Balance,” as the audience stood mesmerized by her vocal performance.
Aiko gave props to the city, complimenting the crowd and told them she was proud to perform in Downtown LA since it was the city she was raised in. Things stepped up once she performed “Never Call,” before she went into her classics such as “Comfort Inn Ending,” opening the track with a statement saying that the song was about the sleaziest thing she had ever done.
Returning the the BFF Stage after Aiko’s performance was Soulclap, a house production duo from Boston. Their set was as energetic as it was diverse, mixing in remixes of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” in honor of the late singer, and the De La Soul classic “A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturday.” Each song was filled with a soulful energy, with the crowd willing out dancing eclectically. The duo closed out the night with “You Don’t Even Know Me,” a ’90s house staple produced by Armand Van Helden who will be performing later today.
Closing out the night were RL Grime and Claptone, who played on the AMF and Friendzone stage respectively. RL Grime’s set was familiar to his previous live performances, dropping trap hits like “Aurora,” and “Core,” in between various hip hop samples as a few mosh pits formed around the crowd. Claptone was equally energetic, performing high energy techno tracks as the night came to a close.
All My Friend’s packed an energetic night into the first day, yet there are a few reservations that must be mentioned. While the stages proximity to each other is a positive one, there are times when certain performances can clash with another, notably between thee BFF and AMF main stage. In addition the booking of certain artists today, mostly Armand Van Helden on the AMF stage is curious, as a house DJ it may have been better to book him on Friendzone stage which is equipped with a vibe more complementary to his style. Nevertheless, AMF has the potential to be an LA staple with day two hosting a stacked line-up packed with tons of promise.
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