Guy J @ Leonia dissected !

                  

Ever since I started following his music, back in 2008 with the massive hit 'Geko', I dreamed of the day Guy would bless India with a performance. Earlier this week, I learned that he'd be playing in Bangalore on Friday and Pune on Sunday. There was no doubt Mumbai / Delhi would be chosen for the Saturday slot. But Prateek Pandey proved me wrong, he inboxed me saying Guy was spinning in Hyderabad on a Saturday, which is very unusual for international gigs here.

The music started at 11 PM with Sowmya Balakrishnan doing the warm up duties with a 124 BPM'ish deep funk house set which was pretty good minus a complete halt to the music somewhere in between, followed by which she took a tech house'y direction.
                      
Guy came around half past one, quite a few had taken their spots on the dancefloor, every one had their space. Having this gig 30 Kms. away from the city had it's pros and cons, filtered crowd with enthusiasts only, who understand the phenomenon known as Guy J, an intimate setting, being the former and less women, being the latter. He did a monster opening that had 'Guy's entry into the arena' written all over it.
                      
 The first hour comprised bouncy tech. mainly, just to get everyone's attention and throw a trailer of what was to come. The sound was off the hook and I mean literally, way too much for the size of the club. Guy turned the bass down, the kicks were overwhelming all the other layers. Gradually he took the set into 'Guy J' space with that trademark sub-bass and melodic neo-prog atmopsherics, playing what I think is another one of his takes on James Holden's Nothing.
                      
He cut down on the energy a bit to give everyone a quick breather before peaktime, during which the set took off into some bombarding electro'ish tech. and some techno too. This gig, unlike the ones in Bangalore / Pune, was Guy's new album 1000 Words' showcase, the set was filled with so many unreleased tunes.
                      
Post peaktime tunes included Henry Saiz's take on Lamur, Heliscope(both original and Egbert remix).
                      
Towards the end of the set he drifted into dark deep proggy space, dropping Azimuth and his takes on Jim Rivers' Vibrant and Sei A's Meth Ii. He also played his remix of Der Dritte Raum's Hale Bopp, by request. That did it for me. Gradually he bought the energy down and finished with his take on Bent's As You Fall.
                      
                      
                      

It's sad that I didn't get to hear Guy J's slow mo / downtempo stuff that's on his sets, especially after I heard CD 1 of his album on Transition's Cloudcast. There was so much energy in the place, those tracks didn't fit in and neither did Geko or Lunar. Let's hope the next time I see him, it's a warm up set. Altogether, a massssive night !