The Crystal Method
Ruby Skye

I was totally exhausted from having just flown in that afternoon from New York and I considered not even going to this show. ( I had actually fallen asleep in the shower while getting ready for the show) But I am glad I decided to go after all.

Ruby Skye in an ultra cool club in San Francisco that caters to the dance music crowd. It is housed in an old theater that retains a lot of its old features but at the same time is a completely modern club. It was a great light system and good acoustics. There is a downstairs dance floor with two bars and the stage and an upstaires balcony area with another bar and the VIP section. They also have go-go dancers and my favorite, a girl that dances with a hoola-hoop that lights up. All I could think was that this place would totally rock if you were on ecstasy! We stayed mostly upstairs since you could see the stage better from up there and the fact that the downstairs was a bit (ok, more than a bit) of a meat market.

We got there at about 11pm and got some drinks before heading upstairs. There was a DJ playing that just OK, but we were anxious for the professionals to show how it should be done.

At about 12:30 The Crystal Method came on. Now, this was a DJ gig not them playing music off their CDs. I think some people were confused on this point and were a little disappointed. The guy next to us kept saying "that's not them...it doesn't sound like them." I tried to explain that it was a DJ gig, but I don't think he was convinced. I just had this vision of him marching downstairs and demanding his money back because he thought it wasn't The Crystal Method.

All I can say about these guys are 1) they are nerds, but who else besides nerds would stand behind turntables for probably 15 hours a day perfecting beats? 2) these guys are not two of the best DJs in the world for no reason! They had fantastic mixes and wall (and ass) shaking beats. I had to keep reminding myself that it was all live because it sounded so flawless. Someone might say; why pay to see a DJ..Aren't all DJs the same? Oh no, my friend, they are not. The first DJ of the night was a two year old's birthday clown to Crystal Methods Cirque-du-Soleil. Oh, Yeah...that different!

We left at 2:30 or so and it took us nearly an hour to get out of the city, but I was home by 3:30 and in bed by 4 am, a mere 22 hours after I had gotten up the day before...and it was well worth it!