MEUTE @ U Street Music Hall [DC] - 10/2/2019
Here's a phrase you probably haven't heard before: "German techno marching band." Enter MEUTE.
MEUTE in a nutshell: they take songs that exist firmly in the world of EDM and bring them to life as an 11-piece marching band. Marimbas, saxophones, trumpets, bass drums, even matching red jackets. The works. The group has gained an impressive following in Europe over the last few years, starting out in public city squares and eventually graduating to massive headlining shows and massive festival crowds. With their performance at U Street Music Hall, the Hamburg-based group continued their worldwide conquest with their first-ever concert in North America.
MEUTE at U Street Music Hall (Photo by Mauricio Castro)
The energy that live instrumentation brings to a show is why production-heavy artists like Disclosure, ODESZA, or GRiZ bring not just their laptops on tour, but guitars, drums, and more. But witnessing a massive group like MEUTE bring these songs to life piece by piece. The marimba is the consistent heartbeat of the group, providing the cadence that the rest of the band followed. Every part of the band got a chance to shine with a solo of their own, and the laughs shared between the band members were as infectious as the rhythms they were creating (again, without the help of any electronics).
Some highlights included their take on Dennis Ferrer's "Hey Hey" and Frankey & Sandrinos "Acamar" (listen to the original deep-house track here, and see MEUTE's take on it here). The band upped the ante near the end of the set by hopping into the middle of the crowd and performing songs as disco balls lit up the room full of dancing fans.
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