Outkast attracts fans to “˜Future Sound Festival’

By David Chang
Daily Bruin Contributor

The dancers, the hip-hoppers and even the drug dealers made
their pilgrimage to the desert of San Bernardino to pay homage to
the only rap act that mattered Saturday at Audiotistic.

Apparently, fans didn’t make the trip into the desert to
see the Audiotistic show; rather, they went to see Outkast and the
rest of Audiotistic was extra. The self-proclaimed “Future
Sound Festival” did itself a favor by booking the
Grammy-winning rap group to rescue what was becoming a thing of the
past.

All the swirling rumors of a possible no-show were quashed the
instant Outkast exploded on stage ready to show the West how the
South shakes its moneymaker. Armed with a platinum blond mop top,
black-rimmed glasses, a backpack from outer space and the puffiest
pants this side of M.C. Hammer, Dre continued giving George Clinton
a serious run for his money as the funkiest living organism on this
planet. Meanwhile, Big Boi, unexpectedly trading in his trademark
baseball jersey for a lumberjack-styled red flannel, remained the
perfect foil to his partner in crime.

Together the Atlanta duo unleashed their greatest hits. The sea
of humanity transformed into a grooving bubble bath in “So
Fresh, So Clean.” During “Ms. Jackson,” the
audience hollered approvingly as Janet Jackson’s voice
sensuously repeated the title phrase ““ courtesy of some edgy
turntablism. The show climaxed during the performance of
“B.O.B.” with soul singers blaring, uniform dancers
jiggling, and audience members soaring.

The glaring difference between this year’s Audiotistic and
past versions is the newfound focus on hip hop as the feature
presentation, which comes after seven years of taking a backseat to
rising genres such as jungle and trance. The change was evident in
the crowd atmosphere, as what had been a costume party extravaganza
was turned into a backyard shindig in the neighborhood.

Nonetheless, electronica fans received powerful performances
from trance marvel Christopher Lawrence, Audiotistic veteran DJ
Dan, and brothers Ed Rush; Optical of the U.K. Progressive’s
crushing aura and Drum N’ Bass’s heaviness are still
undeniable. Like puppet masters, these artists controlled the
dancers with the movement of their fingers.

This massive Southern California event did a good job of
bringing together an audience of various ethnicities and statuses.
This homogenizing quality is certainly the secret ingredient to its
success. It tries to fit the whole world inside Dre’s
spacious pants.