By: Abbey Arrowood
I often (re)discover that as a college student, my days never go to plan. I love to think that they will, and it never stops me from attempting a schedule, but often I end up somewhere completely unexpected, in a situation I will never find myself in again. A week prior to October 21, I never would have thought I would be in Atlanta the following Wednesday night, asking Twilight Sparkle where she got her french fries. In front of me were two fans dressed in My Little Pony-themed wigs, tails, and accessories. They were far from the only ones. As I was standing in line for horsegirL’s DJ set at the Eastern, I saw western wear, fur boots, braids, wigs, accessories, bows, and everything colorful. The crowd was resourceful, showing their creativity through handmade felt ears, clothing, and I even spotted a clip-on tail made of hair extensions.
HorsegiirL released her debut album, NATURE IS HEALING, in June of this year. On October 30, a few days after the concert, she released its sister EP, HARDCORE HEALING, which gave fans 15 more minutes of hyper-yet-melodic signature horsegiirL sound. It includes the ever-popular “c*ntry girl rock’, which she had played in Atlanta and previously released as a single. Her “signature sound” can be described as a mixture of rave, hyperpop, techno, and happy hardcore with a fondness for the pan flute. This was her first time in Atlanta, and she assured us she would be back.
Since my friends and I thought horsegiirL performed before she actually did, we were there pretty early. At some point, as I was standing in line, scanning the crowd, trying to people-watch as much as I could before the doors opened, I caught a glimpse of horsegiirL outside of her tour bus, horse head and all. She had on a hoodie and a set of casual wear, but her commitment to her character was noticed and made me anticipate the set a little more than I already did. If someone was that dedicated to their character, then surely the show would receive the same amount of effort (or maybe she truly is a horse). Lately, I’ve been to a few local shows that have a more relaxed vibe, so the anticipatory nature of this show was personally much welcomed.
Once inside, around 8 pm, the packed crowd eagerly welcomed DJ_Dave, a 28-year-old high-energy DJ who codes the digital backtrack for her songs live on stage. The hyper, experimental electropop is accompanied by flashing, pixelated electronic pictures and moving elements. DJ_Dave, originally from NYC, first scrolled to a blank code board that said “HIII ATLANTA”, and then began coding the notes and repetitiveness of certain sounds. She coded her way to her first song, “Airglow,” which is the twelfth song on her recently released debut album, Hardcore Softcore. However, the experience of seeing her craft in real time gave me a better understanding of her talent that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. She continued the pattern of scrolling down her software to code the next song, and kept doing so until the end of her set.
In the middle of one of her songs, she stopped to ask the audience how many people were (or aspiring to be) in the IT field. A cheer rang out, and she gave an unexpectedly moving speech about not giving up your passion in the looming fear of an AI job takeover. She assured fans that their skills and expertise were needed, to keep growing and learning, and not to let the world get them down. She was very thankful for the crowd’s support, and someone in my group said they might like her better than horsegiirL!
Of course, right after he said that, horsegiirL came out to prove him wrong. In a moss and mushroom-enshrined DJ booth, she performed hit after hit, starting with “351%,” and ending her encore with a fan favorite, “an apple a day.” What stuck out to me was that the way she performed every song in her set was entirely different. When she performed “only the best,” she had two background dancers dressed as snails dance (prance) around with her, and the visuals on the screen behind her showed a digital version of her playing the pan flute. During “hands hands hands,” the venue was filled with circling, flashing blue strobe lights. You could barely make out the shadow of horsegiirL. For “eat, sleep, slay, repeat” she guided the crowd into a series of hand movements and gestures to repeat throughout the song. She spent almost the entire concert running around, but it looked truly effortless. It was such a captivating, interactive set. She also played a remix/cover of I Love It by Icona Pop, which was unexpected, but super fun.
I had to remind myself to take pictures for this review— it seemed to me that the vibe of the crowd was, surprisingly, phones-down. For a larger venue, this was definitely unexpected. In between the opener and when horsegiirL came on, my friends and I met two nice girls from Florida who had just seen horsegiirL at a festival two days prior. While dancing, another girl in front of me turned around to tell me to “not worry” and to “just danceeeee.” She also gave my friend her cowboy hat for a short period of time. I feel like these interactions may not have happened with a more phone-obsessed crowd, and the unspoken offline rule made the concert feel like a true, genuine experience.
The whole event felt very purposeful. I walked out of the venue feeling like I had momentarily been a part of a very welcoming community. HorsegiirL’s success is well-earned, and I look forward to her next appearance!
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