TwonkDiNation: A Review of the Denver Leg of Trap DJ Brillz’s Tour

I’d never been to an all trap show before, so I was a bit apprehensive when I decided to attend the Denver leg of Brillz’s Twonkdination tour. I love trap, sure, but a whole night of it? I was worried I couldn’t handle hours of bass and whomp and rap. Still, I’d never seen Brillz live and had only caught a tiny bit of Party Favor at EDC last summer, so I decided to go to the show with an open mind. In the end, I was blown away.

I got to the Ogden Theater just in time to catch the last 15 minutes of Ghastly’s set. I’d heard of the young producer before, but didn’t know much about him. I was surprised to find that Ghastly is a small guy with an emo look – hair falling across his face, skin tight black jeans with matching hoody… You get the picture. I looked at him and immediately thought I’d hate him. But the energy and passion that emanated from the producer was contagious. Ghastly jumped around with a huge smile on his face as he played heavy dubstep and trap. I was certainly impressed.

Next came Party Favor. I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoy Party Favor’s music, but before seeing him live, I was more drawn to his Diplo-like good looks. However, like with Ghastly, I found myself pushing my former feelings aside and letting the music take over. Yes, Party Favor is a good looking dude, but he also threw down an insane set. Remember how I was worried about only listening to trap all night? Well, Party Favor didn’t let the crowd get bored even for a second. One minute he was playing “Heads Will Roll” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs then “Febreze” by Jack U, then “Everybody Dance Now” by C+C Music Factory before falling back into a string of heavy trap. Paying homage to two great artists, Party Favor closed with one of my favorite tracks right now – Marshmello’s remix of Adele’s “Hello.”

To close the night, the brains of the operation, Brillz, played. In true Brillz fashion, the producer wore an eccentric outfit of cutoff sweatpants, a sweatshirt with a pointed hood that made him elf-like in appearance and his typical huge, round sunglasses. Interacting with the crowd often, Brillz kept things fresh, jumping from trap to hardstyle to rap to house and back again. When he wasn’t behind the decks, Brillz was running around waving a “Twonk” flag or crowd surfing. What is a “Twonk” you may ask? The producer has said of the word, “Twonk is a human weirdo, and twonk team is the movement of the weirdos. Twonk is about creativity, it’s about individuality, it’s about being weird… it’s about self expression.” And really, that definition set the feel of the show as well.

Brillz closed out his set with a mini speech about respect and positive vibes. It may sound cheesy, but the sentiment really touched me. The EDM scene can seem so robotic and void of life sometimes and so it was nice to hear from a producer who so clearly loves what he does. After talking to the crowd, Brillz welcomed his openers back on stage for a little B2B action before calling it a night. All the producers seemed to be having a blast – dancing, goofing around with each other and spinning sick trap until the lateness of the hour caused the show to end. The Twonkdination Tour is still in full effect and I urge you to get tickets while you can.

Tags : Artists, Brillz, Dance Music, DJs, EDM, Electronic dance music, music, reviews, shows, Trap, trap music, Twonkdination