On Sunday night, I got a chance to sit down with The Glitch Mob members before their show at the Orpheum Theatre to talk about their latest tour.
When asked what makes their live show unique, Josh Mayer, better known as Ooah, was quick to respond. “The Blade,” Mayer said, referring to the Mob’s elaborate stage design. Fellow bandmate Justin Boreta chimed in, explaining that The Blade has been The Glitch Mob’s stage performance piece for several years, with details being tweaked and modified to fit their performance vision.
“There was a point in time where we wanted to take the laptop off the stage, because we were all just standing behind computers,” Boreta said. “We realized we could just tilt our controllers forward so everyone could see what we’re doing.”
The Glitch Mob – comprised of Ooah, Boreta and edIT – brought their “Love Death Immortality” tour to the Orpheum along with openers Chrome Sparks and The M Machine. While the Sunday night show wasn’t sold out, throngs of Glitch Mob fans and concertgoers brought an unimaginable level of energy, ready to get down to the epic bass music that is The Glitch Mob.
Around 11 p.m., the curtain hiding the stage slowly began to rise to reveal the trio standing behind their respective Blade, dressed in all black. Holding a single drumstick in the air, edIT stood defiantly, his silhouette illuminated by a blinding white light. They plunged into “Drive It Like You Stole It,” a fan favorite off their first album, Drink the Sea.
In an age where your typical DJ might merely stand behind a laptop and push a few buttons and turn a knob under the guise that they’re doing much more, The Glitch Mob’s live show is refreshingly revealing. At any given point, you can observe edIT pounding on giant drums or Boreta punching out a crunching bassline on several iPad screens.
Between the continuity of the music and the lighting, the whole performance was impressively dramatic – at various points, right before a big drop, it would become totally dark except for the lit-up iPads, their screens glowing almost sinisterly. And right when the audience thought the song was done, it would drop into a more intense portion.
The setlist covered both new and old music, including plenty of tracks off “Love Death Immortality,” their newest album, released in February. The Mob ended with their remix of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” a hard-hitting track that earned a lot of attention from the crowd. Chants of encore began before the group had even left the stage, and sure enough, brought the Mob back for a few songs.
“Did the Packers win today? No wonder you guys are in such a good mood,” Boreta mused, drawing a rowdy chorus of cheers from the audience, some of whom hadn’t yet changed out of their Packers jerseys. The Glitch Mob performed several more tracks until right before 1 a.m., when they closed the encore with “Skullclub,” an upbeat banger off the new album
