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MUTEK.SF

An electronic festival not suitable for a furniture store

MUTEK is a global touring electronic music & arts festival that started in Montreal. It debuted its US spot in SF last year and was back for another round this year. The festival isn’t just a bunch of dj sets but touts an immersive quality to it with technology pushing forward what your ears, eyes, and every other sense feel.

I went through the 100 or so djs, producers, and musicians performing, but they’re meant more for a setting other than Living Spaces – my girlfriend wanted to test out couches for what felt like four hours.

Usually listening to music beforehand gives me a better picture of what I want to see. With MUTEK, you can’t prep. Well, at least not until a suitable VR experience is available. It was about listening there, especially Friday, the first day of the festival. The night astonished me a few times over.

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Kelsey Lu made me blush

And more of my awesome awkwardness

I’m a proud member of Concert Raptors, a Facebook group with over 11,000 highly enthusiastic Bay Area fans of live music. It’s a good place to exchange tickets with people you know aren’t bots, let people know about the latest stellar musician coming to The Bay, or organize group meetups around events. Those are the things that make it good, but what makes it great is the culture set by moderators and active members. Kind of like Dogspotting, no one takes it too seriously and fun is highly encouraged, if not required when selling tickets (never above face value.)

I’ve met up with people from Concert Raptors before, but Kelsey Lu was the first time I did it solo. A few people were getting together at Smuggler’s Cover before the show. When I got there, I had no idea where to find them. The small bar near the entrance had a half-dozen people sitting on stools, but I wasn’t sure they were raptors, so I went downstairs. I ordered a drink, tried to see if they posted exactly where they were, but my phone had no service down there, so I scoped out the place and narrowed down who a raptor could be. My pick was wrong. They asked me, “what the hell is Concert Raptors?” I explained and skurried upstairs with tail between my legs.

After getting upstairs, I had internet connection once again and saw they posted that they were upstairs. There were only two sets of three people at the bar, so I picked what I thought was most likely. The guy responded with, “what is that some shitty band name?” Once again I explained what it was and tried to get out of the situation as fast as possible. Someone mentioned there was a third floor, so I awkwardly backed out of my seat and went that way.

I finally found my raptors and went with them to the show soon after. Kelsey Lu was an experience all her own. I appreciated her music before, but seeing her live puts a lot more background into who she is. Her personality on stage shines. She gave me goosebumps and made me blush at the end. Few times have I felt a show ended too early. This was one of them.

In the end, the stress that came in finding my group of raptors made the show all the more enjoyable. Check out a video of Kelsey Lu’s performance at Great American Music Hall. You’ll need to be a raptor of Concert Raptors to view it.

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