Hotel Garuda’s Sold Out LA Show Was A Thing Of Beauty

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of house shows. I find them repetitive (one of the qualities that actually attracts some house lovers) and ultimately tedious. Sometimes, I have to be reminded that house comes in many flavors. Whatever flavor Hotel Garuda, Matt Dimona and Wingtip fall under is one that I’ll have to pay more attention to.

The night started off with Wingtip playing some groovy, disco-esque tracks to keep the sparse crowd moving. It was an early start with a thin crowd, but throughout the set not a single foot was left stationary. As the size of the audience grew, the energy was more palpable and the connection between everyone was only made more tangible by the easy-dancing music pumping through the speakers.

After Wingtip finished, Matt Dimona hopped on to the decks for a set that sounded a bit more like a Coachella sampler than a typical house/EDM set. Of course, this didn’t seem to phase anyone in the crowd as we danced to groups like Phoenix and Passion Pit throughout his set.

Finally, it was time for Hotel Garuda, made up of Manila Killa and Candleweather, to take the stage. I’d never seen them perform before, so I was going in fresh – honestly, I think it made for a better experience. Seeing them at a venue like the Roxy with a capacity of around 500 people was just the right kind of intimate setting that their music called for, with the energy of the crowd reverberating around the venue ten-fold.

That night for me is basically a blur, but thankfully their first three stops on the tour were caught on video. Check it out below.