The crowd could handle him, the Majestic could handle him, but Paper Diamond's own equipment couldn't handle him on Wednesday, March 4th.
Halfway through his hour-and-a-half long set, Alex Botwin (aka Paper Diamond) lost power to his soundboards. Chanting and unrest in the crowd ensued, and a visible number of attendees left. This power outage came at a crucial point in his show. He had just dropped an incredible remix of Jack Ü's hit “Take Ü There” and his set was building steam for the finish. Luckily, his crew fixed the problem in five minutes and he was back to turning up the crowd in no time.
The whole power problem felt like it could have just been another trick in Botwin's arsenal, on par with the rest of his show. He had a giant LED screen behind him and his DJ platform was covered with synchronized lights. These screens played graphics that Botwin himself designed. When not making music, he creates art and designs clothing for his company Elm & Oak. Several times throughout the show, the command “make more art” flashed behind Paper Diamond, making his artistic devotion clear. The video screens combined with stage lights, plenty of strobes, and even the house lights, kept the packed crowd on their toes.
Paper Diamond's music selection did not disappoint either. The night was filled with enormous baselines that made the hairs on my head shake. He played remixes of mainstream hits like Calvin Harris's “Summer,” Beyoncé's “7/11,” and Rae Sremmurd's “No Type.” He worked in plenty of hip-hop, which the crowd loved, featuring songs by Ludacris, A$AP Rocky, and O.T. Genasis. EDM fans were also delighted to hear Yellow Claw, What So Not, and Dillon Francis, among others, sprinkled into the trap DJ's set.
Botwin played a good mix of his past and new music, interspersed with those tracks from other artists. His main set culminated with “Wylin,” and indeed, the crowd went wild. He came back for an encore with “Take Me Away,” a song from his brand new Rain Drops EP, then finished with a rousing rendition of Lil Jon's “Get Low” that got the whole crowd rapping along.
Overall, I give Paper Diamond's show 8 subwoofers out of 10. If you missed it, don't worry. He promised to be back to Madtown next year.
– Sam Toppe