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    Show Review: Borgore

    Last night, Borgore played to a crowd about the size of a packed campus house party. That being said, the show was amazing. The crowd was extremely diverse, and I’m not sure if it is because spring break is this week, but there were a lot of high-schoolers.

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    Path, a local rapper, opened the night. I didn’t catch his whole set, but I caught enough of it to want to go to his next performance. Next, British duo Document One played a set which seemed to last for an eternity. The music instantly made me think of the interesting, yet satisfying soundtracks for UK television shows such as Skins and Misfits. Members Matt King and Joe Froud hyped the crowd up during their hour-long set. Transitions were smooth; I was thoroughly entertained and will definitely make an effort to see them again.

    Then, one of two awkward moments occurred during the show. Borgore appears in the DJ booth as Document One plays and basically takes over. I mean, transition wise it worked, but where’s the pomp and circumstance for the headliner of the show? The front of the booth lit up featuring snippets of his dancers, different Borgore logos, and the logo to his latest EP, Flex.

    I’ve been to my fair share of shows, but have never seen security guards mouths drop so fast as when dancers Dru Silva and Stephanie Pietz hit the stage. I knew what to expect from them. Bikinis, seductive dancing, and Converse kicks, but whenever they entered the stage, the audience cheered as the security guards stared in awe. Unfortunately, Borgore seemed to fade into the background under the dancers and the digital display in front of him. Borgore bounced to his music in the booth while taking swigs of Grey Goose and Gatorade. He almost looked as if dictating every move the dancers made with the touch of a button.

    At first I didn’t understand why Borgore referred to his music as having a metal and horror influence, but after last night, I get it. It seemed I was listening to the soundtrack of a gruesome murder, or what an axe murderer would listen to in celebration of a job well done. The YouTube videos I watched didn’t come close to what I saw in person. Borgore’s confidence was apparent as every drop was executed with ease and without hesitation. Some songs featured relentless, constant drops which made it impossible for anyone at The Newport to take their attention off of the stage.

    The song “Ice Cream” made me think of some sick sexual one-night stand you’d be afraid to tell your friends all of the details about. He played other songs such as “Nympho” and his latest single, “Kiss My Lips”, which seemed to be crowd favorites. One half of Document joined Borgore on stage and poured Grey Goose into the cups of those in the front row. A notable part of the evening involved Borgore handing out money to members of the audience while 2 Chainz’s “Spend It” played in the background.

    Sampling songs from System of a Down and Slipknot were surprises, and not my favorite part of the show, but seemed to work with Borgore’s horror sex-type motif.

    Another awkward moment during the set occurred at the end of the show. After the audience begged for another song, Borgore came back out with the MC from Document One, played about 30 seconds of a song and left the stage. “Ni**as in Paris” played as the MC stayed on stage, not realizing Borgore had already left. Rapping along with the song, he finally realized after “Mary-Kate and Ashley” that he was left alone.

    The show ended at midnight. Document One and Borgore could have gotten away with shorter sets and it would have been more effective as a lasting impression. With that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rob Zombie included a Borgore song in one of his gore-filled films. The show itself exceeded my expectations and whenever Borgore is relatively close to Columbus, I will definitely make it a point to attend.

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    Briana Henry
    Briana Henryhttps://columbusunderground.com/
    Briana is an intern writer at Columbus Underground who writes concert and live music reviews and previews, local band spotlights, album reviews, and other featurettes related to the local music scene.
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