Feb

7

Girl Talk - Live @ The Grog Shop (Cleveland)

Posted by Administrator

February 7, 2007 |

Our live reviewer Dave is on the case again. This time tracking down Girl Talk at a show up in Cleveland at the Grog Shop. Enjoy Dave’s thoughts and some great pics from Pat Jarrett.

Girl Talk

So you’ve probably heard about this guy by now. Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk. He is commonly referred to as a “mash-up king”. He combines modern rock and rap Top 40 hits into 45 minutes of instant party. You’ve probably either heard of his near naked live shows, or seen YouTube video of them, and thought that they looked crazy. The hype alone was enough to sell out the Grog Shop, a grungy little venue in the heart of the Coventry District of Cleveland.
Here’s a little background for the show. The weather outside was as frigid as a mother’s death stare, with the wind chill reaching a blistering 17 below. It was a true reminder of reality, that we can not control our natural surroundings no matter how much we wish we could. But once you stepped into the club, the heavy breathing and heavy drinking of the massive amounts of bodies instantaneously warmed you up, almost like stepping into a sauna. The only items on the stage were a plethora of cords connecting a Dell laptop to outlets and speakers while it rested squarely on a white, fold-up cafeteria table. Not to mention the sheer amount of anticipation in the air was palpable. You could cut the energy with a knife. People were mingling, trading swigs from drinks of people they didn’t even know. It was a true exercise in community building, readying everyone for the mayhem they were going to experience together.

Girl Talk
As Gregg took the stage in what was his temporary hometown (Gillis attended Case Western Reserve University), he seemed energized, replenished after a week off from his last show (Girl Talk performs mainly weekend shows as it is truly a tiring experience). He immediately jumped into the favorites, mashing up anthems from Clipse, Boston, Warren G, and Nirvana. Just as the party was really hitting a high point, about halfway through the set, one of the many crazies on stage stepped on a cord connecting the computer to the speakers, mangling it, and consequently giving the dehydrating crowd a twenty minute break. At the time people were frustrated. However, in retrospect, this was probably the best thing that could have happened, as everyone was afforded the opportunity to grab some sort of liquid to quench their unbearable thirst and reach even greater states of chemical imbalance. And when the music kicked back in, the party jumped off like it hadn’t even stopped, bringing everyone right back to euphoria.


As Gillis closed his mammoth two hour set with the final two “songs” from his amazing breakthrough album Night Ripper, and people began to file out around 2:30 AM, I remembered how much hype had been surrounding this show. How, as we walked up to the door in the frigid cold, a guy asked us if we had any extra tickets to the sold out show. It was as if I had been transported away from that for two hours, worried only about the people I was around and the fun I was having. That’s when I realized why this guy and this show were so great: It was an escape. A way to say, “Fuck it, I’m having fun.” And with a smile on my face and a sweaty shirt on my back, I stepped back into the world.

Girl Talk - Bounce That

Girl Talk - Smash Your Head

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Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Covert Curiosity on February 12, 2007 9:22 pm

    Nice review, I can’t wait for his live sets here in Austin.

    I put up a few live Girl Talk tracks, if you’re interested.

  2. the grog shop on May 10, 2008 2:48 pm

    […] up in Cleveland at the grog Shop. Enjoy Dave??s thoughts and some great pics from Pat Jarrett. …http://www.eachnotesecure.com/girl-talk-live-the-grog-shop-cleveland/Colorforms ? Video from the Grog Shop 11/29/2007 Part 1Welcome to forevertime??. … Your email is […]

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