Nero @ The Electric Factory.

Text by Jennifer Granato. Images by Dana Ricci.

Nero’s appearance on stage Saturday night at the Electric Factory was much like their music – a big build up until something dramatic finally happens.  At the start of their set, the group teased the audience for a while with blacked out projections of the band flashing onto their sound booth and loud beats to match, before at last appearing on stage to perform a lengthy and exciting set.

The Grammy Award winning British group is made up of three musicians – producers Dan Stephens and Joe Ray and vocalist Alana Watson.

The trio performed a range of new tracks from their latest album, Between II Worlds, and older, crowd favorite tracks such as their hit song “Promises.”  To the audience’s obvious delight, they even included the popular Skrillex remix of the track in their set.

Watson’s voice sounded so clear and striking that it was difficult to believe the voice was real and coming out the tiny blonde girl on stage.  She provided vocals to Stephens and Ray for about half the set on and off, singing and dancing around the stage in cool black and white outfits.

The rest of the set was made up of Stephens and Ray twisting and dropping beats.  They traveled through several styles of electronic music, ranging from their dubstep roots to drum & bass and house tracks.

Their almost castle-like set had patterns and colors projected onto it all night, from blinding, flashing white lights that silhouetted the group, to projections making the entire structure look like a retro sound system, a wall of speakers and cassette tapes.

Before Nero, London-based producer Redlight entertained the crowd with tropical house beats.  The night began with local producer Evan Riley.