Emvae Bathroom set

Recently, I went to the largest club on the north shore of the Amstel river. Built out of an abandoned air raid shelter, from which the club gets its name, Shelter is known for the dark concrete rooms, techno, and underground feel. I went to see a local DJ who was playing that night, but the night took a turn I was not expecting. I went into the main room and saw the headlining DJ, Ajuma, and was impressed with the music but the rest of the crowd didn't seem to be huge fans. Over time, though, I saw groups migrating towards the bathroom. I wanted to see what the hype was about, remembering that Shelter has a bathroom DJ playing all night. From the outside, I could see that the bathroom was packed with people. The guy performing in the bathroom was a Dutch DJ from Groningen named Emvae. Everyone in there was having a great time, and Emvae was dropping some heaters on the decks. It came to the point that more people were in the bathroom than by the main decks. I was able to get pretty close to the booth, and saw the passion and excitement behind the music. Emvae was jumping with the crowd, smiling, shaking hands, and sharing a beer with other guys in the booth. This got me thinking about how the love of performing can have a tangible impact on how the crowd sees the music.

People will sometimes talk about crowd control when referring to how an artist is able to keep the audience engaged, and Emvae had it down to a science. Continuing to engage with the people around the booth and enjoying the music with them creates an atmosphere where everyone is having fun. It's not often you see people being pulled from the main floor into the bathroom but, Emvae showed that the better performer can overtake the more well known artist when they show more passion and create a better environment in their performance. Linked below is his instagram, and I would recommend checking his soundcloud and listening to a few of the sets he's done.

https://www.instagram.com/emvae_/