The wave of neon lights shook frantically, controlled by an unforeseen force.

Then suddenly, the pace halted. The bright colors slowed down, moving methodically to the bass that commanded every movement.

On stage stood DJ Diplo, the conductor of the organized chaos taking place in Goldstein Auditorium. As the headlining act of University Union and Hillel’s concert Saturday night, Diplo had students wrapped around his frantic fingers, controlling their every move with thumping beats and fluctuating tempos.

‘From start to finish, you have the same mind state,’ said Erik Knapp, a junior biology major. ‘The music dictates how you move in general.’

While Diplo had a spellbinding effect on the audience, it came later than expected. Two hours before Diplo took the stage,indie rock band The Postelles and hip-hop artist Rye Ryebuilt anticipation for the main event.

The Postelles, with its traditional four-piece rock set, played to a small and static crowd. Glow sticks and neon lights barely moving, the small crowd stood still, less than captivated by the New York City-based rockers. As more audience members trickled in, Rye Rye quickly caught their attention with spitfire lyrics and a beat produced by Diplo himself. Dressed in a bright orange and purple jacket and pink pants, Rye Rye and her backup dancers frantically hopped around stage. The audience members followed suit, waving their neon lights in the air to the rhythm of their movements.

‘I don’t really listen to that genre of music, but I thought she was fun,’ Knapp said. ‘She had a lot of charisma, and she got the hype up.’

Following Rye Rye’s set came a 10-minute interlude as the stage set up for Diplo. The normal lighting flooded out the neon glow, and students moved aimlessly, unsure of how they should move without a beat’s instructions. But thelights dimmed again and the neon glared brighter, encouraging the crowd back to the stage, awaiting the next command.

Dressed in a suit and tie, Diplo took his post behind his switchboards and laptop. His hands rapidly moving over his equipment, he began a tense buildup before asking, ‘It’s a party tonight, right?’

The audience screamed, ‘Yes,’ and Diplo released a low but heavy drop, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Energized by the bass’ thud, Goldstein became an explosion of neon light. People in the balcony, who had mostly remained seated, stood up and threw their glow sticks into the crowd on the ground floor.

Students suddenly became Diplo’s puppets, precisely moving in conjunction with his pulse. Remixing numerous hits,including’Black and Yellow’ by Whiz Kalifa and ‘Blame Game’ by Kanye West, and spinning original tracks from his time with DJ group Major Lazer, he repeatedly told the students,’Make some f***ing noise.’

And they did. The crowd formed circles around dancers who whipped their glow sticks and other neon lights around like nun-chucks, creating a dizzying effect. Some even removed their shirts, sweating heavily from the physical demands of Diplo’s dubstep.

Toward the middle of his roughly 90-minute set, Diplo slowed the crowd’s velocity down. Transitioning from his original beats to remixes, the neon lights became tame, moving with control and direction.

But these lulls did not last long. Just when the audience started feeling comfortable, Diplo ratcheted up the tension. Purple, yellow and orange glow sticks rose into the air, shaking in anticipation for another drop. Sent back into pandemonium, the lights once again moved without rule, their only restraint being Diplo’s desired tempo.

This pattern continued throughout the entire show. As the crowd’s excitement ebbed and flowed with Diplo’s music, the DJ continued his hectic movements. Stripped down to a white tank top, he refused to stop, constantly leading one song to the next with seamless transitions.

In the final buildup, the excitement reached its capstone when Rye Rye’s break-dancers hopped onto stage once again. Dancing with Diplo for one last drop, their efforts sent everyone into a manic dance. Illuminated only by the hue of their glow sticks and strobe lights, the crowd finally regained control of the concert, this time forcing Diplo to move faster and harder for a climactic finale.

‘Toward the end, I stayed in the back, and to just look up and see everyone’s silhouettes defined by glow sticks was so cool,’ said Eva Lyons, a senior biology major in the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.’Dubstep is our generation, and I’m really glad everyone was into it.’

ansteinb@syr.edu

Published on March 27, 2011 at 12:00 pm