Dragonette & The Knocks: Double Bill of Magic Music at Union Transfer

Dragonette and The Knocks made the third stop of their thirteen city fall tour at Union Transfer in Philadelphia on Thursday, September 13th after playing in New York City the night before. The show’s headliner, Canadian band Dragonette, consists of singer Martina Sorbara, bassist Dan Kutz, and drummer Joel Stouffer.  They have released two great albums including “Galore” back in 2007 and “Fixin to Thrill” in 2009 and are also slated to release their third studio album “Bodyparts” on September 25th.  The album Galore earned them a Juno Award nomination for Best New Group and Fixin to Thrill peaked at number 21 on the U.S. dance charts.  Even with these credentials, the last time they played in Philadelphia back in 2010, they played for a very small crowd in a much smaller venue. When Sorbara reminisced about this prior experience (while on-stage at Union Transfer on Thursday), she joked that there were maybe about four people in the crowd.  Boy have things changed.

Since then, their song ‘Hello’, that they recorded with DJ and producer Martin Solveig, has taken the world by storm.  ‘Hello’ has been used in commercials and television shows such as 90210, The Vampire Diaries, and Gossip Girl.  It peaked at number one in a number of European countries and also reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart in the United States.  They have collaborated four times on Martin Solveig’s 2011 album “Smash” and there is no denying the chemistry between these two musical acts.

The Knocks, who opened for Dragonette, are an electronic duo from the Lower East Side of New York City consisting of Ben ‘B-Roc’ Ruttner and James ‘JPatt’ Patterson. Not only do they produce their own original music but they also have made remixes for other big acts such as Katy Perry and Britney Spears.  Their song ‘Dancing with the DJ’ reached number 1 on both the Hype Machine and Japan’s iTunes.  We caught them when they were here just a couple of weeks ago as one of the musical guests at the Made In America Festival which was hosted by Jay-z and Budweiser.  [Click HERE for Made In America pictures and review]

Dragonette made a great decision with their openers for their fall tour because The Knocks always put the crowd in a great mood and get everyone dancing.  We’re a big fan of theirs after catching them at Camp Bisco back in July and then again at Firefly Music Festival. We had a chance to chat with them prior to the show and you can check out that interview right here:

The Knocks didn’t waste any time getting Union Transfer into the groove by opening their set with the song ‘R.O.Y.L. (Rest Of Your Life)’.  It was a great way to kick off their show and made the crowd feel like they were in for a special night, especially with lyrics like ‘I promise you that you’ll remember tonight for the rest of your life’.  The good vibes continued with their 2012 summer anthem ‘The Feeling’. This dynamic duo followed it up with live mixing of some fan favorites like ‘Funk Soul Brother’ by Fatboy Slim and ‘All These Things I’ve Done’ by the Killers, which had the crowd chanting ‘I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier’.  They ended their live mixing with a song by Philadelphia native Diplo called ‘Pon De Floor’, which has been a big club hit for awhile. By this time the crowd was dancing and The Knocks kept up the energy by playing ‘Blackout’ and ‘Learn to Fly’. To conclude their set, they played two of their biggest crowd pleasers, which coincidentally are our two favorite songs of theirs, ‘Dancing With The DJ’ and ‘Brightside’.  Their lyrics about not caring if the sun comes up because we are dancing with the DJ and singing with me one more time fit perfectly with how the crowd was feeling.  The only thing that disappointed us about their set was that it had to end.  By the time The Knocks left the stage, everyone was yearning for more music that they could dance to.

Even though The Knocks had a great opening set, it became very clear who most people came out to see.  When the lights dimmed after the break between sets, the bar area quickly dispersed to floor level and the size of the crowd by the stage seemed a lot larger than minutes before.  Dragonette decided to open with their risque 2007 song ‘I Get Around’ to the delight of their fans.  We didn’t know much about their music before tonight but quickly understood their appeal when we saw the way lead singer Martina Sorbara commanded the stage.  Not only did her unique voice capture our attention but so did the way that she engaged the audience by working the whole stage and getting so close that you felt like she was part of the crowd.  By the time the song ‘Live In This City’ came on, the whole crowd was energized and clapping along.  After this song, Martina told the crowd about her last show in Philadelphia and how there was barely anyone there.  She was trying to figure out what the name of the venue was that she last performed at and a couple people were yelling out “Johnny Brenda’s”.  She clearly could not understand what they were saying so she called it “Johnny Brownbuzz” which got a chuckle from the local hipsters in the crowd.

For the next song, the lights were turned down low and red lights filled up the stage.  You knew she meant business when the jacket came off and she started singing ‘Limousine’ and ‘Pick Up The Phone’.  Towards the end of the song ‘Pick Up The Phone’, they incorporated the Cyndi Lauper classic ‘Time After Time’ which the crowd cheerfully sang along to.  After this song, Martina picked up her guitar and transitioned beautifully into ‘Fire In Your Shoes’.  Then they started singing some songs off their new album, such as ‘My Legs’ and ‘Run, Run, Run,’ and an old favorite ‘Easy’.  Once they finished ‘My Work Is Done’, the bass started thumping and the lights were flashing.  Everyone knew something big was about to happen and as the anticipation was rising and rising, the beginning of their biggest hit ‘Hello’ started playing.  This was definitely the climax of the night, with everyone singing along and jumping to the music.  They played a couple more songs and left the stage, with everyone wanting more.  To the delight of their fans, they came back out for a two song encore.  During this encore, Martina told the crowd that she bought a collapsible bicycle in Philadelphia and named it ‘Phyllis’.  She said that she will bring it on her tour bus and take a picture with it in each of the other cities she performs in (and everyone can follow the travels of ‘Phyllis’, her version of the traveling gnome online).  This news was met with applause. By the end of the night, Dragonette had made two new fans of their live show over here at Independent Philly.  Although Dragonette just came to say ‘Hello’, a piece of Philadelphia will be with them forever.

[Story by Lee Min Yeong]

You can view a full photo gallery of the show below (click thumbnails to enlarge):

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