On August 1st, our boisterous team of rave bandits took to Whisper, a club set in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia, to catch the king of Melbourne sound in action on his first stop of his United States tour. Mind you, this was the first time ever that Will Sparks has been stateside for a show. Like, ever. You can imagine our excitement when we learned that Philly was the kickoff to the whole thing. Seemed only fitting that the City of Brotherly Love was bringing in a fellow producer bro to America, and thanks to the amazing work of our friends over at East Side Electro, this was finally realized.
We arrived at Whisper and prepared ourselves, going through the channels of networking and shop talk that we usually did, and the quick thing that I noticed...this club was really cool. During the openers' sets, I had the ability to speak very comfortably with whomever it was I was conversing. The music wasn’t overpowering, and the EQ of the venue was incredibly clean. Props to Whisper! Anxious to get to work, we made our way to the VIP booth for the meet-and-greet…and found ourselves smack in the middle of a frenzy! The young Aussie had just taken to the VIP section and found himself swarmed with cameras, bros, and fangirls. Although we did make the observation that this meet-and-greet seemed a little too packed for our liking, we obviously understood that since it was his first time here, Sparks was bound to receive an overwhelming amount of support. There was nothing wrong with that at all!
1:00 AM. The moment we had all been anxiously waiting for. An exuberant Sparks took to the booth and grabbed the microphone and shouted, “What’s up Philadelphia! I’m so excited to be here right now!” Two short phrases spoken, that’s all he needed. The party-hungry crowd could feel his energy and his excitement, and with the first note of his set, the place went off the f**king walls. The next two hours were a frenzy of Melbourne, club, and electro house mixed in a way I had never heard before. Going between a selection of his own originals like “Ah Yeah!”, “All Night”, and “The Viking”, Sparks kept the “WTF” moments coming with infusions of songs such as “Zombie Nation” by Kernkraft 400, “Swing” by Savage, and my personal favorite, “Jump Around” by House of Pain. Perfection.
To say that the night went well is a vast understatement. Will Sparks brought a youthful energy to the venue that I hadn’t seen since I caught the likes of Nicky Romero or Alesso, and I have to admit, I think I enjoyed this show more. There was more going on. More transitions. More moments where I had absolutely no idea how the mix was working, but it was. From the standpoint of both an enthusiast and a producer/DJ, I tip my hat to Will Sparks and must say Welcome to America! Please come back as much as you possibly can, because we haven’t had even close to enough of you! Cheers.
Soundtrack To My Night
