Girl Talk / Dan Deacon / White Williams

Just under a year ago Pittsburgh’s Greg Gillis packed the Social, a petite hipster-populated art gallery with his travelling laptop show under the moniker of Girl Talk. Nowadays he’s filling a 1000+ capacity club like the Phoenix to the rafters with a healthy assortment of concertgoers who are there because they know this about him: dude was born to party. Before Gillis could get everyone naked and sweaty, newcomer White Williams managed to charm a revved up audience with his ethno-synthetic pop package, aided by visual virtuoso Andrew Strasser’s customised screen shots. Though his trusty day-glo green plastic skull was M.I.A., "future shock” geek Dan Deacon made a strong first impression, setting up camp on the floor and testing his modest gear to the Sebastian the crab’s oceanic classic, "Under the Sea” from Little Mermaid. The bespectacled Baltimorian rocked his electro pop anthems with the help of a fervent crowd, who at one point nearly toppled Dan’s play station. He got his revenge though, organising a dance-off and playfully teasing the shy kid on the dance floor with chants of "Cow-ward!” before launching into a crowd sing-along (complete with lyric-written hand-outs) of "Wham City.” Deacon was a tough act to follow, but there’s a reason why Girl Talk can sell out the Phoenix with his "I Am Not A DJ” shtick. Armed with only a laptop, Greg Gillis infected the on-lookers instantly with his continuous mega mash-up. It took almost no time for the crowd to bum-rush the stage, which within seconds grew to more than 70-strong joining a bouncing Gillis in testing the capacity of the floor beneath them. But Gillis lapped it all up and throughout the 90-minute set, continually egged on spectators with his mic to defy security and join him. Signature compressions like Biggie’s "Juicy” and Elton’s "Tiny Dancer” caused fits, but personally, hearing Hall & Oates flow into Nirvana was a true highlight. Gillis ended the night with some "Night Ripper shit” and "rock’n’roll shit,” but not before he pronounced himself with a shambolic beat-blasted cover of Nirvana’s "Scentless Apprentice,” which inspired him to jump off his laptop’s table into the crowd. He may not look or act the part, but this guy’s one hell of a rock star and the best non-DJ in the world.