Don’t waste time at Bardot, and head over to The Stage

Jonathan Szydlo

When going out to watch music, there’s nothing worse than arriving at a show and the hosting venue being the worst aspect of the production.  On the other hand, nothing makes up better for this than crossing the street and finding a gem of a show that negates the sleaziness of the previous spot.

On Feb. 11 Abdecaf, Steve Vaynshtok, a junior public relations student’s stage name, opened up a show for Com Truise at Bardot, a pseudo-swank bar in the Miami-Midtown area which caters to Brickell’s finest, or Manhattan’s dredges.

After having to deal with Bardot’s gatekeeper for 20 minutes, in which he kindly informed us of the venue’s “No Camera Policy,” he was kind enough to rhetorically ask that “If we didn’t let cameras in when Moby came, what makes you think we’ll let you in with one to this show?”, and having to negotiate the cover charge, we managed to walk in for Abdecaf’s set… which lasted just as long as the gatekeeper episode.

For it being Abdecaf’s first live performance with his complete set up – keyboard, laptop, and drum pad which experience some slight technical difficulties – it was a pretty all around solid set, but lacked from any memorable moments.

The only thing that kept me at this show, for at the very least the duration of Abdecaf’s set, was the fact that Vaynshtok is a member of the University.

As soon as he unplugged his things, and we finished up our two drinks that cost well over $50, we were kindly informed that the seats we were occupying are reserved for bottle popping customers who will be arriving at 1 a.m.

It was 10:50 p.m…We left.

Photo by Andres Bedoya

Being that the night was still young, we went on a limb and seized the day by crossing over to The Stage, for a surprisingly refreshing hip-hop show with Parable vs. Mac Soto opening for Mayday, both local Miami troupes.

With the sultry sounds of Max Soto being the first notes hitting the crowd with a John Legend-esque feel that had both guys a girls reaching out for the better halves, I’ve got to admit, I felt slightly out of place being there with only my photo editor, Andres Bedoya. In terms of full disclosure, Andres was a little preoccupied at the moment fending off a voluptuous cougar who with out saying a word began twirling Andres’ Salvidor Dali-like mustache.

With the duo’s juxtaposed styles, with Mac Soto’s soulful hooks and the hip-hop stylings of Parable comprising of the verses, they were able to keep the crowd of 20 to 40 year olds tapping their toes throughout the 35 minute long set, regardless of what their musical preferences might have been.

Mayday took The Stage next.

Having evolved into a six piece rap alt-rock fusion band from an original two MCs, their stage presence radiated onto the crowd, who couldn’t help but throw their hoods up and ignore the ‘no smoking indoors’ policy of The Stage.

Let me put this out there, as a 25 year old who only got the tail end of Biggie and Tupac’s careers, it’s pretty impressive seeing a crowd mixed with 40 year olds in business suits, 30 year olds in Timberlands and dreads, and twenty-something year olds watching in amazement as the aforementioned aged groups flawlessly spit out Biggie verses.

After the bottle of Jack that was being passed around by Mayday was drained, and after being on stage for over an hour, the band dropped the mic and left stepped out of the spotlight as the crowd made their way to the food truck that was on site for Mac and Cheese Hamburgers, and reluctantly headed home, myself included.

All in all, Bardot was a bust, although Abdecaf has some unrealized potential, if he just realizes that venues such as Badouché aren’t appropriate if you’re trying to attract a crowd that has an actual interest in music, while The Stage redeemed the night with Parable vs. Mac Soto and Mayday killing it.