Scenes From Dallas' 2013 Red Bull Thre3style Subregional at It'll Do.
If Red Bull's goal with its Friday night Thre3Style subregional DJ competition at It'll Do Club was simply to pack the place out, then the event was clearly a resounding success: By 9:30, the venue had reached its capacity and then some; a line of even more would-be attendees stretched from the door of the space and out to Elm Street.
Inside, though, there was only more jockeying for position — at the bar and on the dancefloor alike. At least in part, credit the five competing DJs for the impressive turnout; on this night, performer proved himself just as skilled in the art of promotion as in the art of mixing. Throughout the room, there were DJ Sober signs, Fishr Pryce banners and pockets of other enthusiastic supporters representing the rest of the competition on the congested dance floor.
Still, despite the big early turnout, the crowd would have to wait until almost midnight for the competition itself to get started. Until that time, DJ Big Once managed the crowd with a set that touched on everything from golden-era hip-hop to psychedelic rock.
Big Once warmed the crowd up nicely, for sure. So, too, did local producer and emcee Picnictyme, who was in top form as the competition's host. And, shortly after 11:30, he kicked the actual competition and real portion of the night off, introducing DJ A1 to the crowd.
A1 wasted no time going straight for the gut, either. Like the four other DJs that followed him, his set, per the competition's requirements, saw the DJ including no less than three separate and distinct genres throughout his 15-minute set.
All of the DJs impressed, really. Whereas A1 pumped up the crowd with his selection and technical precision, DJ Rev kept his set party-centric, DJ Fishr Pryce kept things trap-oriented, DJ Sober kept things classic and DJ NVS kept the crowd guessing.
By the time the competition came to its close, the crowd had heard everything from techno, cumbia and electro to trap, screw and Motown.
In the end, using the parameters of technical precision, musical selection and crowd reaction, the judges (Big Once, DJ Baby G and DJ M Squared) gave A1 top honors. DJ Sober took second place, and DJ Fishr Pryce finished a close third.
As M Squared took to the decks to close out the night, the crowd finally began to disperse — all while debating on social media why their DJ of choice did or didn't win the affair.
Really, though, on a night like this, pretty much everyone involved left the building feeling somewhat victorious.