Nero at Roseland Ballroom

Last night, Nero performed at Roseland Ballroom. I bought their debut album, Welcome Reality a few days after I bought the tickets. Honestly, not overwhelmed by the album. Why, you ask? Well, because as far as it goes with Nero, I was given the impression they were dubstep. After listening to Skrillex, Bassnectar, and Datsik, Nero left much to be desired. There just was not enough—the album was just not hard enough for me.

The day of the concert, I started to realize that since I had bought the album, all I had really done is discovered the one song I really loved and listened to that over and over again, not listening to anything else. So, when anyone asked me what I thought of them, really all I had to say was “I love their song, ‘Scorpions.’”

Nero in concert was probably twenty times better than Nero on an album. They had way more dubstep breakdowns and the beats just seemed more up-tempo. The crowd was as I expected—young kids—too young to be there. There was neon spandex and glow sticks everywhere. My eyes were hurting the whole time from the glare.

At one point a couple came up to me and asked, “do you have an ecstasy?”

“No, sorry,” I said, apologetically. I was shocked at how sincerely sorry I sounded. Then later on when a different couple came up to me and asked if I had any gum, I was concerned that “gum” was code for some other kind of drug.

“I have bubble gum,” I answered, emphasizing the word “bubble” to ensure we were talking about the same thing. They seemed content when I took the pieces of Trident from my purse and never came back complaining that this was not the “gum” they wanted.

There is something about the audience at these types of shows that I think scare the crap out of anyone who is not familiar with the dubstep or its following. The girl I went to the show looked at me perplexed as the crowd, including myself went crazy when the opening DJ played “Right On Time” by Skrillex. Oh well.

Nero consists of two DJs and one random woman that shows up every other song to provide vocals. This woman, who I assumed was just some electronically generated voice, actually exists and appears to be part of Nero and joined them numerous times on stage. She reminded me of a combination of Barbie and the Svedka vodka robot. The actual DJs, Daniel and Joe, stood behind their tables, wearing sunglasses the entire time. It was Men In Black gone dubstep!

Overall, the concert was great. It was a lot shorter than I expected, Nero going onstage a little after midnight and ending their set a little before 2 AM. Nero’s music was a lot edgier live than on their albums and of course, the energy of the crowd at a dubstep concert is something that cannot really be put into words but adds to the entire experience.
My only disappointment from the whole concert was Nero did not play the one song I had consumed myself with for the last few weeks. Each time a song began, I was hopeful that it might be “Scorpions,” but it never was. They played their hits, “Doomsday,” “Promises,” and ‘Guilt,” which clearly satisfied most of the audience.

I was pleased with the overall concert. For those who are not familiar with Nero, I would check out “Doomsday,” “Scorpions,” “Me and You,” and “Promises (Skrillex remix).” And who knows, you may become one of those crazies dancing by themselves with a glow-in-the-dark hula-hoop. The Cheshire Cat put it best . . . .


“We’re all mad here.”


Andrew W.K concert at Webster Hall tomorrow—stay tuned!