Mark Farina's Still Got It

Ok, I admit it's been a while since I've really kept up with Mark Farina, but I still recognize him as one of the world's premier house djs, and a key architect of the San Francisco sound. He's also done a beautiful collection of Mushroom Jazz cds, based on the club night he started in 1992. The last time I'd seen him was in 2000 in Halifax, where he played a 4 hour set at a party where he had my jaw on the ground: I was in disbelief at the ubiquity of his pumping, groovy, 4 on the floor tracks. Seriously, it was unreal.

So having since fallen out of the underground dance scene, I approached his Saturday night show without expectations. When I arrived, the venue was already filled in, and local John Delerious was already getting the crowd warmed up and cheering by playing a bunch of tracks that sounded like they came directly off of Farina's San Francisco Sessions.

When Farina hit the decks people were ready for him. He was ready too, apparently, laying out a signature assault of groovy bass lines, in your face 4:4 beats, and the occasional tease of a vocal. People were cheering for the first half hour solid. We were very very impressed. He played for over three hours, so I wasn't rapt for the entire set, though it was clear that many people were. Hands were in the air for pretty much the entire show. I checked.

The set was all house, a bit tribal here, deeper there, with a classic or two tossed in. The only real surprise he served up was a mash up of INXS's Original Sin, which was ok, but didn't particularly turn my crank.

But hey, I can't complaiin about anything. I was definitely entertained for hours, got my dance on, and got to mingle with people who were mysteriously friendly and touchy-feely. Also, it's been a long while since I've danced at the Commodore, and it is excellent. Sure it's a killer concert venue, but everyone crammed at the front of the stage is less fun than everyone busting out on the entirety of the square footage. Am I tempted to fall back into the scene, in the end? Uh, more on that later.