North Coast Music Festival 2011, Friday: David Guetta

Frenchman David Guetta closed out day one of the North Coast Music Festival with a set on the largest stage. The DJ, a superstar in Europe, was clearly pleased to be playing in front of sizable crowd here in the States, where electronic music is hardly universally accepted. “This is my biggest show in your city,” Guetta said at one point. “Are you ready for my ‘F$%# Me, I’m Famous’ beats?” he asked referring to the name of his world-renowned Ibiza-based parties.
The crowd was indeed ready: ready to dance, hoola hoop, glowstick-twirl and fist pump as Guetta dished out wave after wave of seismic beats that threatened to bury those in attendance. Like Wolfgang Carter, who played before him, Guetta has risen to the upper echelon of sought-after producers for pop stars and rappers. Appropriately, the DJ’s songs conjure a crowd-pleasing mix of house and electroclash, with the occasional sample by the likes of Kelly Roland and Ludacris. The beats, removed and re-dropped multiple times per song, got the crowd moving, even if they did operate with the subtlety of a Mac truck.
“I came…to make…you sweat,” Guetta declared early in his set. And by that yard stick he was successful, though the day’s steamy temperatures may have had something to do with it. While Tron-like blue lines pulsed on the projection screen behind him, Guetta jumped around and extolled the crowd, while layering trancey beeps on top of his relentless four-on-the-floor beats. No one song or rhythm felt particularly out of place, but cumulatively they felt somewhat robotic and impersonal. Like cheap bubblegum, his compositions all started promisingly, with an initial blast of techno bliss, only to quickly lose their flavor.
Aficionados of house or other forms of electronic music may not always care for Guetta’s meat-and-potatoes style, but you can hardly argue with the results, as proven by the large and actively grooving crowd. The thunderstorms in the day's forecast held off, and Guetta’s throbbing ravers were a fitting end to the first night of this genre-spanning festival, now in its second year. Guetta said goodnight and thanked the crowd, only to reappear moments later. “We have two minutes to play!” he informed the crowd, happing for an excuse to prolong the party.