In early November, seemingly unaware that it was no longer summer, hundreds of well-dressed twenty-somethings packed the mahogany dance floors of Revel Casino’s HQ Nightclub just to catch a glimpse of Porter Robinson. A staple of East Coast night life throughout the summer, HQ and it’s host hotel Revel have not missed a beat since the change of the seasons, riding a wave of buzz following Tiësto’s Beach Club set on its closing weekend.  Now well into the fall, its nightlife remains un-phased. Porter Robinson’s debut at the seaside club drew a sold out crowd from Philadelphia and New York City, all eager to see the electro house DJ outside the confines of warehouses and festivals.

Unphased by the room or the crowd, Porter shunned the typical night club fare and performed as if he was on a festival stage; working the room with flagrant electro house chops and bumpy big room house. Throwing down the dance and flail variety of shifty transitions that he is most well known for, the outspoken and talented producer brought electro house to Atlantic City with his in-your-face attitude. If patrons were expecting easily digestible radio pop, they were sorely deceived by Porter’s rambunctious play list. He quickly set the tone, opening up with his remix of M83’s “Echoes of Mine” before diving into Torro Torro’s remix of Zed’s Dead “Cowboy,” further ragdolling the crowd with Zomboy’s “Raptor” and EDX and Leventina’s touch on Helvetic Nerds “Blood Pressure.”

The night continued on at much the same pace, building and breaking in a hail of electro gunfire. Howling with every spastic cut, the crowd locked deeper into Porter’s hold-no-prisoners set, one that was in sharp contrast to opulent room.  His own tracks served as mere guest appearances in the 40+ song set, “The Seconds” and his remix of “Less Go” sat nicely alongside Eric Prydz’s rendition of “Midnight City” and Disclosure’s fool-proof mood changer “Latch.” For the next 3 hours the onslaught would carry on in much the same way, the dancefloor growing far out from its usual area, quickly turning bottle service into an extension of the massive dance party.

Porter’s non-conformist attitude played well with the sold out crowd, testament to the argument that you don’t need to know the songs to enjoy the music. In an industry so laser-focused on delivering familiar hits, and the excuses many of his contemporaries give for lackluster performances, Porter is the antithesis — a shining example of the old DJ mentality wrapped in a new school package and a Traktor board.

Photo credit: Miles Casupanan

Tags: hq, HQ Nightclub, Porter Robinson

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