In keeping with the style of the Big Top stage at Bestival, 4B wasted no time in rolling out the big, boisterous EDM that's almost impossible to ignore at a festival these days. He began with his own "Pop Dat" and seemed determined to up the ante with every subsequent track.
Most of his set came across more like a promotional event for Mad Decent or Dim Mak than a display of any individual expression, however. Part of the problem with a lot of these trap shows lies in the cross pollination of tracks and styles, which serve as a loud shout-out to everyone else in the scene, but inevitably means that a large amount of the performances are carbon copies of each other. "Heads Will Roll" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs seemed to pop up again and again throughout the day, for example. Couple that with "Mosh Pit" by Flosstradamus, a few Major Lazer tracks, and Darude's "Sandstorm," and you've pretty much seen it all, unfortunately.
There is something to be marvelled at in the tracks themselves: the towering walls of bass and feverish drum rolls shook both the tent and everyone's molecules within it. If you're looking at this in terms of hype too — which is a huge factor with this style of music — then 4B was truly impressive, as he was never more than a minute away from raising the crowd up for the next drop. Sadly, that's all the show was: a series of drops. And with the Jersey producer gratuitously pointing and taking Snapchat videos for a large portion of the show, his actual production skills were mostly lost in a haze of physical activity.
Most of his set came across more like a promotional event for Mad Decent or Dim Mak than a display of any individual expression, however. Part of the problem with a lot of these trap shows lies in the cross pollination of tracks and styles, which serve as a loud shout-out to everyone else in the scene, but inevitably means that a large amount of the performances are carbon copies of each other. "Heads Will Roll" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs seemed to pop up again and again throughout the day, for example. Couple that with "Mosh Pit" by Flosstradamus, a few Major Lazer tracks, and Darude's "Sandstorm," and you've pretty much seen it all, unfortunately.
There is something to be marvelled at in the tracks themselves: the towering walls of bass and feverish drum rolls shook both the tent and everyone's molecules within it. If you're looking at this in terms of hype too — which is a huge factor with this style of music — then 4B was truly impressive, as he was never more than a minute away from raising the crowd up for the next drop. Sadly, that's all the show was: a series of drops. And with the Jersey producer gratuitously pointing and taking Snapchat videos for a large portion of the show, his actual production skills were mostly lost in a haze of physical activity.
