Cars lined the street and the sound of the bass from the 555 gallery echoed quietly in the streets. With an old warehouse style vibe, the Kill Your TV show featuring Ben Sims was reminiscent of electronic events a decade ago.  

Ben arrived a little bit late. He was schedule to perform at 1:00 am but didn’t go on until closer to 2:00 am. DFP stayed up late to talk with him before the show and ask about what to expect. Ben explained that, “at present I only really do DJ sets but there is talk of preparing a live set for European festivals this summer, it’s a new thing so I’m curious about it, if all goes well I’ll take it elsewhere.”  

The upstairs portion of the 555 Gallery was broken up into three rooms. One room was well lit and was a place for people to talk, they had a chill room that featured more minimalistic style music and then they had the main floor for dancing. The main room had projected images on the left and bright lights. The floor was absolutely packed from about 11 pm to close at 6 am and the venue was really able to cater to all of the people on the dance floor. There was a lot of space to sit down and despite being BYOB they had water and red bull available. The chill room remained true to its name for most of the night, but took a surprising turn at approximately 3 in the morning when it started cranking out more bass and a higher bpm. This is pretty uncharacteristic because the purpose of a chill room is not to function as a second dance space at that hour, it’s for people to relax and take a break from dancing and the bass pounding their ears.  

The crowd was extremely diverse, what I refer to as the “14 to 40” crowd, and was kind of rare to see at an event in Detroit. Glowsticks made an appearance, which is something that is not the norm for other venues in the area. The vibe was very community oriented and open, seeming to have a bit of rave elements intertwined with it. I would expect for this to be common at future events, it seems that mainstream culture is becoming more accepting and appreciative of the electronic music scene in Detroit because venues have become a lot more full in the past few months than they have been in years.  

There were a few minor technological difficulties throughout the night that would cause the music to cut for a moment, but the performers were able to get back going almost immediately. The only downside to the gallery is the limited number of bathrooms, but that is precisely because it is a gallery and not a bar. The added atmosphere more than made up for the little bit longer line.  

For those that are fans of the headliner Ben Sims they should keep their eyes open. Ben explained that he is “re-launching a couple of my labels with a bunch of releases over the next few months and my new mix CD ‘Escapism Pt 2’ should be out around now," so that people that enjoyed the performance he gave will be able to take him with them.

- Ashley Star
Ashley@detroitfashionpages.com

Photography by Evelyn Miska
Evelyn@detroitfashionpages.com