Lights, cats, action.
As the familiar, funky intro of “White Noise” traveled through beams of light at the Orpheum Theater Wednesday night, it was clear the crowd, donning feline-themed apparel inspired from Disclosure’s latest album, was in for a hypnotic evening of smooth electro and deep house.
All the way from the U.K., the musical duo of brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence — known as Disclosure — smoothly sailed the Madison crowd through a sea of sweet techno riffs, upbeat rhythms and familiar voices.
Before the Grammy-nominated duo could move the crowd, Canadian techno artist Pomo and American house DJ and producer Claude VonStroke riled everyone up for the main act of the evening.
Pomo, who is still an upcoming techno artist, was the ideal opening act for Disclosure. With his smooth, deep house vibes and remixes of calm tracks like Alina Baraz’s “Fantasy,” he was the perfect tease for Disclosure’s sound.
But while the vibrations of the deep, hard bass lines of Claude VonStroke’s set pulsed through everyone’s bodies, his ghettotech sound felt disconnected from the previous opener and main act of the night. Though he’s been in the music festival circuit for a number of years now, his harsh Dirtybird sound didn’t compliment Pomo’s nor Disclosure’s.
By the time Disclosure came out, the crowd was already two hours into constant moving, head bobbing and jumping around. But that didn’t stop anyone from dancing for another couple of hours as the musical duo enchanted the crowd with familiar hits like “Magnets,” featuring Lorde, and “When a Fire Starts to Burn.”
The setlist was a perfect combination of the duo’s debut album, Settle, and their latest release, Caracal. With each song flowing perfectly into the next, it’s no surprise the crowd stayed on their feet all night long.
At times, the closed setting of the Orpheum felt overwhelming, but the balcony provided an ideal spot to get out of the chaos of constant lights and moving bodies. With a perfect view of the stage, balcony patrons still danced all night long in a cooler, calmer setting.
Some of that chaos included when Disclosure brought out Lion Babe for one of their recent tracks, “Hourglass.” Babe’s chilling vocals, sultry moves and hypnotic light show added a mellower experience to the much heated evening.
Along with Babe, the U.K. brothers brought out Brendan Reilly for one of their encore songs, “Moving Mountains.”
Before saying goodbye to the Madison crowd, Disclosure ended the evening with the song that catapulted them from the very beginning —”Latch,” featuring Sam Smith. Closing off the evening with one of their first hit singles, the musical duo proved exactly how far along they’ve come.
As the audience roared with elation at the show’s end, it seems likely this won’t be the last time Disclosure’s iconic face stencils fade away.
