LMFAO and The Cataracs electrify Leavey

By Joanne Santomauro

The air sizzled with energy on Saturday night, as hundreds of neon-clad Santa Clara students flocked into Leavey Center in eager anticipation of this year's fall concert headliner: LMFAO.As students filed in, DJ Benzi spun a mix of house and top-40 beats, electrifying the crowd. Following DJ Benzi's set, Atlanta rapper Donnis opened the show with a few of his newest songs, pumping up the crowd further.

Excited students from the Bay Area welcomed Berkeley natives, The Cataracs, to the stage after Donnis made his exit. Accompanied by the Star Wars theme song, the energetic electro-hop duo, composed of singer/rapper/producers Campa and Cyrano, approached their mixpads and keyboards, arms raised. The audience immediately responded with loud cheers. The Cataracs opened with a mix of Train's "Hey Soul Sister," followed by the crowd favorite "Top of the World." Campa asked the crowd, "Y'all drink out here at SCU?" Loud cheers ensued. He continued, "Y'all eat your vitamins out here at SCU?" The crowd went wild.

To the audience's surprise, Campa couldn't stay for the full set; he announced to the shocked crowd that his girlfriend in New York was giving birth to their son that night. Campa told the audience, "My flight leaves soon, and I want to see that little sucker when he pops out." Students were disappointed to see him go, but congratulated him and wished him the best of luck.

Immediately after The Cataracs performed, Dev was introduced. Rocking the chic-rapper style made famous by artists like Ke$ha, Dev sidled onto stage while casually sipping a drink. After playing a few of her own hits, Dev brought the Cataracs' Cyrano (real name Niles Hollowell-Dhar) back onstage to perform the single "Like a G6." Students mouthed along with the performers, hands raised and hips swaying to the beat, showing off their weirdest and craziest dance moves.Before their set, the headlining group LMFAO hung out in the green room, discussing the setlist and mock-fighting with a couple of their friends who later appeared on stage with them. They began signing flyersto hand out to fans later.

The pair spoke softly, thinking carefully before each response-surprisingly contradictory to the spontaneous nature of their music.

The Santa Clara: So, what's the story behind your name?Redfoo: The story is that Sky's grandma gave us our name. Sky was chatting with her [online], we were going through that naming process-before LMFAO we were called 'Sexy Dudes.' Our friends didn't like it, they thought it was too obvious, you know, it was like calling us 'Human Beings.' You know how most bands have metaphors in their names. So we told her, our band name is 'Sexy Dudes,' Grandma, and she simply put: 'lmfao.'TSC: Who are some of your favorite artists and musical influences?SkyBlue: Eddie Murphy.R: Rick James. I also liked The Chipmunks growing up.TSC: Who was your favorite chipmunk?R: Alvin.S: Everybody chooses Alvin. Simon never gets any credit. Neither does Theodore. Theodore was always there.TSC: What are some of your pre-show rituals?R: Seeing as they don't allow alcohol here, we had to get that done in the hotel.TSC: What's your favorite drink?S: That's a tough question. It depends on different times of the day, and different states, because sometimes you'll want to get drunker. But to start things off, you've got to have Red Bull and vodka.R: Recently, I like tequila. I used to do Patron and Red Bull, but I don't do that anymore. Just orange juice.TSC: Why not Red Bull?R: There's too much sugar... I just feel like orange juice has the natural energy, like soccer games at halftime, moms feed their kids oranges. I might infuse some tequila with some oranges, put some orange peels in there. I mean, I won't have it sitting all day, I'll have it fermenting. I'll get some tequila, put some ice in it and just infuse it, you know?TSC: Any words of wisdom for Santa Clara students?R: You've got to envision where you want to be. You've got to fantasize about it. You have to see yourself through your future eyes. What I'm saying is, you might want things, and say to yourself, 'I'm going to have this house, I'm going to have this car.' But you can't just see yourself driving down the street in the car-you have to see what it looks like to be in the car, see the steering wheel, look over, see the beautiful babies waving at you like, 'Hey! What's up?'...And once you do that, you know what it feels like to have that car, to be in that position. It could be a car, a house, a family of six.S: Six kids. I want that. All boys. I want to watch the little young men do what I was trying to do when I was eleven.TSC: Do you ever get nervous?S: [shakes head] This is something we've always really wanted to do. More excited than nervous.R: We anticipate. It's like before you have something sexual with someone you've been fantasizing about, you're excited about it, you know, you look forward to it. We feel it with the crowd. We are going to have sexual relations with this crowd in the form of music."

On stage, the duo entertained with their animated music and personalities. The set featured non-stop dance/rap music, flowing from one song to the next through interactions with the crowd. At one point, SkyBlu jokingly accused a girl in the audience of objectifying him.

He told the crowd,"This girl right here, see I'm trying to sing to her, and look into her eyeballs, and she can't take her eyes off my balls!" The crowd howled with laughter, and the pair continued playing hits from their album "Party Rock."

After the first five songs, a man wearing a giant Robot head costume came onstage and danced with them. They completed the set with the crowd favorite "Shots." After LMFAO left the stage, the crowd began pleading for an encore, chanting, "L-M-F-A-O, L-M-F-A-O" until the duo came back onstage.LMFAO finished the night off with "Yes" and a new song "Put That Ass to Work."

Contact Joanne Santomauro at jsantomauro@scu.edu or at (408) 551-1918.