Review: Bonobo performs stellar set in Bushwick, with support from two local DJs

Bonobo performs at Elsewhere in Bushwick. Eagle Photo by Joe McCarthy

By Joe McCarthy

Veteran UK DJ Bonobo visited Bushwick April 19 to perform a soaring set inside the crowded nightclub Elsewhere, with support from local DJs Olive T and thimo supreme.

Though it was a chilly, rainy night, the line to enter Elswhere stretched several blocks into industrial Bushwick.

Bonobo began his set around midnight and played for a solid three hours, building from his downtempo earlier work to his more propulsive and dance-friendly recent songs.

There was hardly any space to move in the main area with vaulted ceilings, but concertgoers who ventured up a staircase, through a hallway or around a corner were rewarded with a set by a local DJ in an airier room with a different vibe.

Olive T performed in the loft, a space with a warm green hue, and had the room moving to funky takes on dance, pop and soul music.

The once-packed crowd began to thin out after Bonobo played the meandering and gorgeous “Kerala,” but enough people stuck around for the Four Tet banger “Only Human,” a transcendent edit of the Nelly Furtado song that sounded luscious on Elsewhere’s system.

“You're so afraid of what people might say / But that's okay 'cause you're only human,” Furtado repeated, looped and layered, with a sped-up ferocity as the crowd jumped around.

Joe McCarthy is a writer and reporter in Brooklyn. Follow him on Twitter @mccarthyj71