Bad Boy Bill - a house legend

As I approached Club Blu off Meridian Street in Indianapolis, I wondered how Bad Boy Bill's sound had changed since I last saw him in the late 90's.  Upon stepping inside, I could clearly see a few hundred people in attendance, every one of them shoulder to shoulder.

Smoke filled the room, and beneath the dim lighting the beats kept the crowds hands high in the air.  Dancers could be found on the speaker stacks on each side of the stage.  Nick Rockwell was on the one's & the two's with a good set, getting the crowd hyped for the house legend to take the stage.  During a seamless transition, the crowd found Bill dropping a high energy hard house set, aiming to please old school and new school alike.

As the beats grew, so did the excitement from the crowd.  An inevitable frenzy began to ensue as the house music filled the air.  With everyone's hands raised high, each person danced harder than they had just seconds before.  Following Bill's performance, Matt Porter took the stage.

His booty shaking mix of Bob Marley's "Could You Be Loved" had me hooked.  Afterwards, his set got wickedly darker, and his beats increasingly lower.  As the evening endured, the crowd visibly pushed on, a mere tribute to the power that the DJ's brought to the table on this night.

For this old school fan, the biggest change for me is how records have been replaced with digital versions of the very same thing.  However, after watching BBB's blistering 2 hour set, I decided that the digitizing took nothing away from my experience.

I spoke with one fan that fell in love with Bad Boy Bill for the first time when she heard Bangin' The Box, Volume One.  She also found his live performance particularly exceptional, as this was the first time she had heard him live.

I left with what could only be described as an electronic coma.  I had been mesmerized by funky house and treacherous beats.  It was one climax after another, with each track showing us that every DJ had more in store for us.  Anyone that caught this night's performance saw a house legend and a supporting cast of DJ's that stood before the decks and followed through on commitments to rock ya' body.

Written by: Keith Griner

Edited by: Rosemary A.W. Roberts, www.jamsplus.com