This is the quote that DJ Simon Posford (Shpongle) asked the crowd as he prepared to blow the minds of the audience. We definitely got Shpongled. The very full crowd of sweaty dancers filled the Fox Theatre on Saturday night to see the renowned DJ on his new tour.
I had the pleasure of eating sushi with Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan before the show, and they warned me that the show was going to be a good one. They did not disappoint.
When we entered the Fox Theatre in Boulder, CO, one of my favorite venues on earth due to its amazing location and pristine sound system, the two were already at it. The crowd was bouncing and full at the start. This crowd knew not to miss the opener Younger Brother because they are comprised of the headliner Simon Posford (Shpongle) and Benji Vaughan (Prometheus). The two were dancing on stage and bopping around to their new music. “No Safety in Numbers” was the track that got the crowd going the most. The sing a long between both DJs and the crowd combined with the Indian sounding chants mesmerized the packed audience. Then towards the end of the opening set, Posford directed the listeners to “take some magic monkey juice and go to outer space land,” in his tantalizing English accent. And off they went till the end of their set…
When Vaughan left the stage and Posford prepared for the intense journey into Shpongle, the crowd nearly doubled in size. Posford then so perfectly asked the crowd, “Are you ready to get Shpongled?” The crowd cheered as a background montage appeared, showing the open mind traveling throughout the country outlining all of the cities that Posford and friends have been or will be appearing on his tour. As the montage continued to display exotic masks and the industrial thumping began, a real masked character came on to the stage and started dancing. The dancing and costume seemed like a type of Native American bird man with a large cape flowing from side to side. After a few more songs the crowd was so into the show that from the stage, it looked like they were in a trance, a real psychedelic trance.
A new dancer came on, and this time he/she was dressed in a tight blue robot suit with a series of archetypal symbols on it. The dancer’s moves were like those of a mime. I felt like I was in a Robert Venosa painting. It was extremely surreal. The music so beautifully incorporated sounds from different tribal groups into the mixing of Posford’s beats. There were a lot of Eastern ethnic instruments and Western contemporary synth beats intertwined into magic. Occasionally, he would leave the DJ stand and shake hands with people in the crowd as the downtempo massaged their souls. In case you’re wondering as I was about the definition of Shpongle, it was described to me as such. According to Raja Ram, who is half of Shpongle’s live performances and one third of the Infinity Project, by contributing the flute and other artistic projects for the group, the meaning of the word is an umbrella term for feeling positive and euphoric emotions. If seeing is believing, you have to see this group for yourself to get the true experience.
