Chilling by the Fire and Eating S’mores With Diplo.

April 29, 2011

by gwmiller3

JUMP fan Tim Becker caught Diplo performing out near Reading for what Diplo called his first Pennsylvania show outside of Philadelphia.

Tim detailed his experiences for us, and provided these great images.

On April 16th, Diplo visited my small town, Wyomissing, about an hour west of Philadelphia. He performed at a club called Building 24 before more than 1,000 people.

My sister introduced me to Diplo’s music a few months back. She was and still is absolutely obsessed with him, as is every twenty something girl that enjoys that type of music. A few months back, she discovered he was playing at Fluid for Mad Decent Monday and a group of us went. I too became a fan of his music.

Some time passed and a rumor started to spread through my hometown that a new club, Building 24, was trying to bring Diplo to Wyomissing. I have some friends who DJ regularly in the area and one knew Diplo personally. I spoke with him and he said to not get my hopes up. The money wasn’t there. Diplo is too busy.

I didn’t give the concept too much thought and the idea of him coming to our town quickly left my mind.

A week or two went by and out of nowhere I received a text: Diplo will be playing Building 24 with Hyper Crush!

I was excited! I made sure to grab tickets.

Then I realized my group of friends and I had bought tickets to Day Glow in Philly, where Diplo was also spinning. Now the entire weekend would revolve around Diplo.

Diplo weekend finally arrived and we were at the Philadelphia Naval Yard for Day Glow. We were nowhere near the stage but the music was so loud and the crowd was so intense that it didn’t matter. The bass never stopped the entire night and our once clean white attire became covered in neon paint. After the event, we went to a friend’s house, cleaned off and passed out. I still have my shirt as a souvenir.

We awoke late in the afternoon the next day to a torrential downpour and a rough drive out of Philly. Finally making it to Wyomissing, PA, we prepared for the big night (maybe the biggest ever in our small town).

Before heading to Building 24, I made the last minute decision to bring my camera. I’ve shot plenty of nightlife in my past and thought this would be a good time to start back up. It’s a pretty beefy camera and just the look of it has gotten me on stage for many events. We arrived at the club and I instantly walked to the stage with camera in hand.

Diplo started to play as I started to shoot and the crowd became intense. Everyone was ecstatic and no one was standing still.

I went from standing in a crowd of ten-thousand in Philly to being on stage, not far from Diplo. It was surreal.

As the night pushed on, the crowd got more and more crazy. Diplo’s assistant did his best to keep the stage clear. He did his job well for about an hour or so ’til the alcohol infused crowd became too much to handle. Quickly, the entire stage and club were filled, corner-to-corner with people dancing. The energy was awesome and the walls continued to thump.

In the middle of the set, Diplo shut the music off and grabbed his mic.

“This is the first time I’ve ever ever ever played in PA anywhere other than Philly, so make some noise!” Diplo screamed.

Finally the party ended and the crowd left the club. My camera and I were noticed and were invited backstage to take some personal shots as well as enjoy some s’mores. As we sat around the fire, eating s’mores with Diplo, Hyper Crush and MC Elixir, I realized the enormity of the weekend.