by Cory A. Thompson – Asst. Arts & Features Editor
Everybody left TOKiMONSTA with sticky feet.
At first, the puddles of beer that formed like tidal pools along the dance floor held back the waves of writhing bodies, but sometime around midnight, the freaky forces of the party pressed in.
For UNC Asheville sophomore Israel Golden, just experiencing the music takes him away from the stress of a harried exam week.
“I still have all my exams left,” Golden said. “But the show takes me to another place. The visuals, the dancing and the heat of the venue create this immersive experience. I guess that’s the point of music sometimes.”
From the center of the crowd, someone’s sweaty cyber-warrior grandpa struts away from to have a smoke and space on the dance floor clears for Kylee Keese, an audio/video producer employed by Moog, to have her turn in the boogie zone.
She adjusts the 3D glasses she received hours earlier at Kraftwerk and peers to where Jennifer Lee, aka TOKiMONSTA, strokes the dials of her synths and sways with the croon emanating from the monitors.
“The show isn’t even 3D,” Keese said. “But with these eyes it might as well be.”
An hour before the show, Keese double-checked every sound system and cameraman in the venue. When the music starts playing, she dances.
“You get to expel every emotion you have during the day when the dancing starts,” Keese said. “Whether it’s stress, anger, happiness or jealousy, you can let it all go when you’re dancing.”
