The dance party of the year

From start to finish, Girl Talk's return to CoMO was a party and a half.

By Lindsay Eanet

Published Nov. 13, 2007

The anticipation that consumed Mojo's before last Thursday's Girl Talk show was so overwhelming that the opening band didn't even have to start playing to get the dance party started.

Thrift-store-sweater-wearing Baltimore trio The Death Set started a crowd-wide sing-along of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" and let a few audience members join them onstage. Their blistering, half-hour set featured a unique combination of gritty, homemade punk and hip-hop sample interludes. They were sort of a rawer version of the headliner; all the components were there, but separate and ready to be mashed. In between samples of "White Tee" and "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin' To Fuck Wit'," The Death Set swept the well-lubricated, sold-out crowd into a dancing storm by frequently running into the crowd and stage diving, howling, knocking over microphone stands and jumping off the bass drum. At one point, the guitarist ran into the middle of the pit and began playing, knocking a few innocent bystanders with his guitar neck.

After a rather abrupt finish from The Death Set, mash-up producer and dance supreme party master Gregg Gillis, the man behind Girl Talk, a former biomedical engineer straight outta Pittsburgh, took the stage and received thunderous applause ... for his sound check.

Gillis is a prime example of the Cult of Personality in action: a wiry, unkempt-looking dude in a flannel shirt, setting up his laptop - an otherwise completely mundane situation if it weren't for the packed crowd of sweaty, drunk Midwesterners chanting his name and screaming requests. Much to his surprise, a few fans even ascended the stage and started dancing to his test beats.

Once his coveted laptop was safely in place, Gillis left the stage, only to return minutes later in layers of running gear, a sweatband pulling back his shaggy hair.

Within seconds, the stage was flooded with dancers grooving to Gillis's frenetic, glitchy mix of Top 40, indie rock, hip-hop and a few classics (thrown in for good measure). He combined tracks like Busta Rhymes's "Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check" and the Jackson Five's "ABC" or Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O'Mine" with "Pop, Lock & Drop It" for a night of iconoclastic gems.

Gillis was an indie rock Richard Simmons, calling to the crowd to keep moving as he bounced around onstage, sweating profusely as he occasionally danced with the fans around the table. Every so often, Gillis would remove an article of clothing, toss it into the crowd. He kept going until he was left in merely a pair of skimpy black shorts.

A group of super-fans who called themselves "The Wildcats" gave him an extra T-shirt while others shot Silly String into the crowd and onto the stage. Glow sticks formed makeshift goofy glasses and bracelets, and former strangers became best friends on the dance floor to Gillis's pulsing pop beats.

Although most of the remixes he performed were new or exclusive to the tour, Gillis occasionally threw in a track from his breakthrough 2006 album, Night Ripper. When the crowd heard his trademark mash-up of The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy" and Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," the crowd belted out lyrics from both songs.

During the show, Gillis gave a shout-out to True/False Film Festival Director David Wilson, who invited him to perform at the True/False pre-party in March of 2006.

After the show, Gillis said he was satisfied with his return to Columbia.

"It was fun tonight," Gillis said.

He added that the size and intimate nature of the venue made the show all the better for both him and the audience.

"Anything this size is really comfortable," Gillis said. "I just really like playing dirty clubs. It's really refreshing."