Benny Benassi

Last night, Candace and I went to see one of my favorite electro DJ's, Benny Benassi, spin a live set at Opera, one of our big dance clubs here in Atlanta. I was super excited about this event, because I was SURE he would spin lots of electro, as he makes electro himself.

How wrong I was...

Instead, Benny spun mostly house-y trance, which ultimately wasn't any different than the average DJ that comes to town (and therefore average enough that I wouldn't pay to see them). I'm just not into trance that much anymore, and even if I was, I have a feeling his set was a bit weak.

This isn't the first time I've seen a world-famous DJ spin live (Benassi won a Grammy this year for this track), and every time it seems to hold true that just because they make good music doesn't mean they SPIN good music. I think it's actually very similar to the distinction in roles between a conductor and a composer...the composer might create good music, but he's probably not nearly as good at presenting good music to the audience. I think it's probably true that the people most in touch with a certain style's best pieces are listeners, not creators.

Anyway, all this said, I still had a really good time hanging out and dancing with Candace, despite my slight disappointment with Benny (I was moderately prepared for this to happen, so it wasn't a big deal). Lesson learned though...