Infected Mushroom played to a crowd of fanatics at the beach club on Governor’s Island off lower Manhattan before kicking off a stint of DJ sets overseas. Governor’s Beach Club is one of the best venues in the city, complete with a sandy beach, a few palm trees, and the most beautiful view of the lower Manhattan skyline. Add thousands of rabid Infected Mushroom fans singing along to their favorite tunes and you get a night many dubbed as “transformative” and “uplifting.”
Having never seen Infected Mushroom Live before, their legend was inflated by the die-hard psytrance ravers wearing old school baggy pants who seemed a little jaded by the amount of kandi bouncing around the venue. But the legends were true, as it didn’t take more than the opening notes of guitarist Tommy Cunningham’s lyrical solo to electrify the crowd and make every last hair on your body stand up.
The band started in high gear and never wavered for their balls to the wall hour and a half set. The thing that struck me most was how loud the crowd was singing virtually every word back to front man Amit “Duvdev” Duvdevani as he conducted the audience, waving his arms back and forth and up and down, commanding those infected by the sound to rage at his will.
Powering through tracks like “Becoming Insane,” “U R so Fucked,” a blistering encore of “Heavyweight,” and a slew of tracks I’d never heard but instantly loved, the live band adds an element to the sound the best LED visual displays can not match in adding more intensity to the show. Drummer Cary White’s breakneck pace for banging on his electronic drum kit never faltered, and founding member Erez Eisen showed his prowess on live synths, helping to create raw yet polished electronic music as the band crescendoed to manifest a digital symphony.
After taking the audience’s minds and bodies on a sonic journey, the greatest surprise came to those on one of the ferries from the island back to Manhattan, where Infected Mushroom sat and talked with fans, penned autographs on signs and guy’s chests, and White even gave away his sweatshirt to a fan. As the boat ported at the dock and Infected stood up to leave, they were sent off by one last chill-inducing applause from grateful fans still basking in the afterglow of one incredible night of live music.
Infected Mushroom returns to the U.S. with the live band playing a few sporadic shows in October, where their channeled madness is sure to infect anyone else lucky enough to catch one of these performances.