This past weekend Tale of Us brought its annual Afterlife NYC showcase event to the Brooklyn Mirage. With the new Brooklyn Mirage production and Afterlife’s new focus on fully immersive AV experiences, the show absolutely changed the game regarding what people can expect from live DJ shows.
For years you’ve heard about special bespoke shows like Eric Prydz HOLO and Gareth Emery’s Laserface/LZR CITY that combine amazing music with cutting-edge visual technology. For a while, Eric was the only one to do something like this on a high level. His EPIC, Holo, and Holosphere shows became must-see live entertainment. Tale of Us has taken this concept to a whole new level with ANYMA (Matteo)’s recent focus on NFTs. Each ANYMA track is released as an NFT that is packaged with corresponding artwork, a visualizer, and a professionally recorded video of the NFT being debuted at a Tale of Us show. So each track is multifaceted and each visual NFT is telling a story of these two humanoid robots Adam X and Eva 0 (Adam and Eve, get it?) coming to life from a combination of nature and technology, and now with the latest ID track they are joining together.
The gamechanger here is that you’re no longer seeing a simple logo on a screen coupled with lasers. You’re seeing bespoke video graphics that correspond to each track, customized to work across all sorts of screen sizes. Brooklyn Mirage happens to feature a new 5000 sq ft. LED wall that demonstrated the full range of this experience. Simply put, it was unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Between the absolutely massive screens, the amazingly detailed visuals, and the barrage of lasers – this is the most technologically advanced show out there besides Eric’s HOLO shows.
It’s no coincidence that Drumcode and Adam Beyer revealed its own brand new AV experience at the Brooklyn Mirage only a week earlier. Crowds expect more than just a logo and lasers now. With the heavy Afterlife emphasis on impressive visuals we feel pretty confident that Afterlife will be upgrading to the Freeom Stage at Tomorrowland next year. After all, they also got an upgrade to the Ziggo Dome during ADE next month and will be closing Ibiza with a doubleheader at both Ushuaia and at Hi Ibiza.
The lineup from beginning to end was superb with names like Cassian, Colyn, Agents of Time, and Mathame each playing deep dark sets also paired with impressive visuals before Tale of Us took the stage around 3:30 and played until sunrise. In the indoor stage you had names like 8Kays, Kobosil, and more. While most Brooklyn Mirage shows end by 5am, you can rest assured Tale of Us will take you to the sunrise.
Everything about this event was perfect with one exception that is certainly not the worst problem to have. It was extremely crowded and packed, making it very difficult to dance. The event was so sold out that tickets were either not being sold at the door or were rarely made available for $500. At times the overcrowding was a bit unbearable if you wanted a good view from the center of the crowd. Melodic techno and Afterlife especially is usually a pretty mature crowd that provides everybody their space to dance, but it just wasn’t possible here. Afterlife and Brooklyn Mirage – next year let’s do a doubleheader on Friday and Saturday so the crowd will be more manageable and give everybody an amazing experience.
