Well as I predicted the Yoji Biomehanika gig in Auckland went right off. I've not see the kids get this excited about a gig for ages. The NZ Ravers were literally counting down the sleeps, for the previous two weeks.
The night started rather dramatically, when the amp in the DJ booth blew up most spectacularly. In a shower of sparks, white smoke and loud pops during Savant's warmup set. Luckily this was just as the club was opening. The Cynergy crew quickly moved everyone upstairs to Bacios, where they kicked off the party. Meanwhile CJ got on his cellphone, and within 30 minutes a replacement rig from SLE arrived and was rigged within the hour. That's the sign of real professionals, when they can pull replacement gear out of thin air at 10 p.m. on a Thursday.
By the time Delegate came on everyone had poured back downstairs to Kiss, the atmosphere becoming more and electric as people waited for the arrival of Yoji Biomehanika. Justin Sane & Kells were stood by the door, and and kept winding people up by yelling "Yoji's here!" to loud groans each time someone else walked in.
Pic: Split @ NZ Rave.
Finally Yoji Biomehanika himself arrived, with a cascade of blonde dreadlocks and blonde goatee. His crazy contacts and massive false eyelashes hid behind yellow cybershades. A silver vest finishing off his Cyberstyling. A roar went up as he entered Kiss and he was ringed with adoring fans, cameras in hand by the time he reached the decks.
Pic: Wild @ NZRave.
Yoji's set was spot on for a Thursday night, not too hard and full of fun touches. Like his bootleg of 'Video Killed the Radio Star', my tune of the night being a child of the 80s. I was lucky enough to be boogying in the DJ booth at the time, so I had a Yoji-eye view of the crowd's reaction. He has so much style he can get away with anything. Like Sandstorm which would have cleared the floor if it had been dropped by anyone but Yoji.
Pic: Bob @ Biggie
Meanwhile the Mohawk boys were having fun at the VJ station. Feeding footage from cameras on Yoji to the two big screens, and overlaying them with funky graphics.
Pic: Bob @ Biggie
Yoji was a joy to film. He knew where the cameras were and was played right up to them. He was almost licking the camera at one point. We recorded the VJ show output and have some awesome footgage of Yoji in action. He's brilliant at amping a crowd up which you can see in this quick clip I shot:
Yoji Biomehanika @ Kiss, Auckland [1.1MB]Click on the image above to play video.
I met Yoji briefly after his set and he said he wants to see what we filmed. So once we've edited it down I'll see if we can clear it with him to publish. Here's another clip of Yoji leaving the club before being whisked off to the airport for his next gig in Australia.
Yoji has left the building [1.2MB]Click on the image above to play video.
Yoji Biomehanika is not only a great showman, he's very funny. When he heard about the amplifier blowing up at the start of the night he quipped: "It heard I was coming and it got scared!" He's also great with an audience and these kids really love him. I had a long chat with Melissa his no 1 Kiwi fan. She can tell what year he released all his tracks and even what hairstyle he had then.
Pic: Bob @ Biggie
Once Yoji had left a few people drifted off to try and grab some sleep before work, but a fair few stayed. Some of the hard core stayed right to the end before going to work without without any sleep. I also dare say a fair few sickies were pulled, judging by the nuimber of people posting from net cafes at 6 a.m., in the Yoji aftermath forum on NZ Rave.
Chelfyn with 5k3LLy.
Pic: Wild @ NZRave.
Pics thanks to Bob @ Biggie, Split & Wild @ NZRave. For the full sets visit: Biggie Set 1 / Biggie Set 1 / NZ Rave Set 1 / NZ Rave Set 2.
Thanks for your post, cool stuff! Also, I would like to share my recent find - a great video on how to apply false eyelashes. It's indeed quite easy if you follow the video. Stay beautiful, sisters! :)
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