For house music lovers, New York City on New Year's Eve was the place to be. If you love trance music, you most likely spent the night at Pier 36 with Armin van Buuren, for those looking to get JACKED you most likely partied with Afrojack and friends, and for those of you who dig the sounds of the future, you probably went to watch Pretty Lights at Roseland Ballroom. I, on the other hand, found myself getting ugly with Dada Life. Before arriving, we were welcomed with one simple declaration:
This is Dada Land. Get ready to arrive beautiful and leave ugly. There are no rules but the rules of Dada. Don’t look back in the past. Always go forward. And whatever you do: don’t trust us.
The Swedish duo infamously known for their love of bananas, champagne and a sound they call the “sausage fattener” delivered their ugliest party to date. Dada Life teamed up with Area Event to bring us the Dada Life Compound. They called it “a cross between Santa’s Workshop, a butcher and the Playboy Mansion’s infamous Grotto.” Why the Dada Life compound and not a NYC club? Well, the boss felt that rules and restrictions go out the door when you party according to the Rules of Dada. If there was one theme that night, it was for us all to arrive beautiful and leave ugly. The kings of all things bananas brought along some special guests to ring in the New Year: Pierce Fulton, Deniz Koyu, and Bassjackers rounded out the lineup.
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I arrived around 11 pm while Deniz Koyu was on the decks. As soon as you entered the compound, you could feel the energy. Kids decked out in banana costumes were running wild and the bass was bumping far and wide across the sizable space. At 11:59 PM Deniz Koyu began the countdown into the New Year, and at 12:02, two of electro’s craziest motherfuckers took the stage.
Above the screaming crowd, a deep male voice took over the speakers and began reading a message to us. He said, “Welcome to Dada Land. There are no rules but the rules of Dada. If you don’t think you can follow them, this is your last chance to change your mind. You are beautiful right now, but very soon it’s time to get UGLY. UGLY. UGLY. UGLY.” After the word UGLY got the crowd sufficiently amped through repetition, Stefan jumped on the decks and officially welcomed us to Dada Land. Along with wishing us a Happy New Year, he made one promise to the crowd. What else would he promise then 2013 to be “the ugliest fucking year ever!” From that moment on, there was no looking back. It was time to go fucking bananas.
And what better way to open up than with “Everything is Free”? Lyrics echoed: “now before we’re done, the world is gonna end, and we’re just having fun.” Just the week before we feared a looming apocalypse. The duo, known for a sense of humor as big as their bass, definitely had their fun with this one. Playing party anthem favorites like “Rolling Stone T-shirt,” “Kick out the Epic Motherfucker” “Happy Violence” and their own take on Gwen Stefani’s “Hollerback Girl”, they had the crowd singing along and dancing with an energy roaring through every inch of that compound. To put it simply, “That’s what Dada Life is about – a combination of sweet, sugary, and super hard… We want the sounds and production to be like you just crashed your face into a wall.” Other song choices included some of the biggest bangers from the past year, Tommy Trash’s “Truffle Pig,” Kaskade feat. Haley – "Llove (Dada Life Remix)", and Steve Angello’s collaboration with Third Party “Lights”. No Dada Life party would be complete without “Feed the Dada". This electro-house banger closed out the night. Left on a high of a champagne aroma, Dada Life gave us a New Years Eve that was absolutely bananas. Pun intended.
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Stefan and Olly had quite the successful year. While touring worldwide, coming up with some very rowdy personal Rules of Dada, creating their own “Sausage Fattener” plugin, headlining at first ever Electric Adventure at Six Flags, and still finding time to release their sophomore album appropriately titled “The Rules of Dada.” If 2012 is any reflection on what lies ahead for Dada Life than we can only expect much more champagne popping for 2013.
Check out the full NYE set on Soundcloud.
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