Upon my 10 p.m. arrival at Cervantes' DJ Ivy was playing an excellent set of dark yet funky breakbeats and to a “crowd” of maybe eight people, including the bartenders. Despite the empty room he played for almost two hours, as people slowly trickled in. Whether it was the competition from the other big events of the night – Electronaissance and the DPUMS – or just an off night, the crowd peaked at maybe a few hundred people by the time Hybrid finally took the stage at midnight.
Hybrid didn’t seem put off by the largely empty room, and launched into a high-energy, hard set of rollercoaster breaks. They definitely leaned on the progressive/NuSkool breaks: heavy, thick and just a tiny bit funky. Highlights included the incredible, sci-fi funk track that I recognized from their Frisky Radio DJ set; an adventurous progressive trance track full of ponging synthetic percussion; and Orbital’s "Halcyon + On," which served as the closer. It sounded good and was very danceable from the get go, but it seemed a little too intense for the size of the crowd. It was simply putting out more energy than the crowd could return. Sure, everyone seemed to be into it, but the excess energy seemed to burn people out quickly as the crowd dwindled throughout the set. It’s hard to fault Hybrid for giving more than the crowd could return, especially since the hardy souls who stuck it out 'til the end were all smiles and sunshine as they spilled out of the club and into the night. – Cory Casciato
Critic’s Notebook Personal Bias: Breakbeats frequently leave me cold, unless done extremely well. Random Detail: There was a woman pestering me all night to let her take my picture with my camera. By the Way: Hybrid are done with the US on this tour; you’ll have to catch them next time if you weren’t there.
