Open Hall, Flat Moon Theory, The Data Waves, Brown Daniel White, and Shae District:

My friend Massimo and I arrived at The Oregon House around 9:30 p.m. and the place was already packed. I swiftly dodged an archetypal bouncer, “I’m with Pizza FM, I got those press passes.” I know, I am very important. A big blue “X” was carelessly embroidered on my hand in Sharpie (sponsor us), which would later imprint on my cheek after a hardcore pass out gig I performed later in my bed that night.Open Hall started out with the classic “Superstition,” but the keyboard player wasn’t blind which left me pretty disappointed. His musical gusto was pretty impressive; he’d possibly have Stevie Wonder rolling over in his grave. Although, Stevie’s still very much alive. He’s literally still alive. The crowd was definitely feeling the vibe as the band played through the first few songs on the setlist.Hootin’ and hollerin’ could be heard all around me as I pushed to the front. A drunk girl told me I was really pretty as Flat Moon Theory covered an instrumental from Childish Gambino’s newest (not that new anymore) album. It may have been the greatest rendition of Redbone Champaign has ever heard, since I played it on YouTube off my laptop's speaker, of course. All jokes aside, the band really interacted with the crowd and covered fun songs which made for a more than enjoyable experience. They covered Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and in a cool way too. The jaded head bobbing you can sometimes see at house shows like these, struck me as more purposeful, meditated, and poised when these well-picked covers rattled around the packed room.Surprise, surprise. The local artist/tagger (his stickers are everywhere), Isaiah G, showed up to accompany the band. Isaiah covered a Chance song where he sought to encompass Chance’s voice, as he later told me after his performance. I grasped his shoulder in order to get his attention and to pass the cigarette we were sharing, immediately my fingers drowned in his sweat. He really gets in his groove on stage—jumping, bouncing, and overall guiding the crowd’s hype. Of course, that dude was sweaty, I thought to myself. And how couldn’t you be with that incredible energy donning a pair of skinnies and a dope, color-blocked windbreaker?Sadly, I had to leave the show early, but my friend texted me about the rest of it: “So, after you left, the Data Waves were pretty awesome. They had people come up and do cyphers. The crowd was loving it, people jumping and stuff. There was moshing going on during the intermission which was odd lol. After that, I’m pretty sure there were two DJ’s [Brown Daniel White and Shae District] who mainly did house and hip-hop. The crowd was mostly dying down by that point. A lot of people had left. When the second DJ came on [Shae District] there were only like 20-30 people left. Still seemed like they were having a good time though.”Oregon was the place to be on April 12th. If the humble venue is still doing its thing next year you should come out and see it for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.