The Huge Party that is Hippie Sabotage

The Sacramento, California brothers of Hippie Sabotage lit up The Riviera theater March 1, 2019. EDM duo Kevin and Jeff Saurer took their fans to space and back with their extraterrestrial trip of a show.  

The Riviera crowd was filled with a mixture of music lovers. From middle-aged concert goers to high school kids. One thing was consistent, there was a clear EDM culture presence in the room. By this I mean the dramatic visual displays and smoke shooters on stage as well as glove light shows happening in the crowd.

The brothers entered the room looking exactly as I pictured – dirty, long hair and tie-dyed shirts paired with baggy jeans. The two showed up looking like they just woke up from a nap, but that’s ok because their music was wide awake and ready to party. With slight hip-hop touches and guitar-led songs, the show proved to be a different take on EDM music.

What was essentially a DJ set, with a few recognized songs hidden between, the concert showed Hippie Sabotage’s ability to throw a party.

Opening with a series of mixes, the two made their way into “Devil Eyes,” a short two-minute track from their 2016 album, “Providence.” This was followed by a newer release, “Drifter.”

Hippie Sabotage began making electronic hip-hop instrumentals in the early 2000s. It wasn’t until 2014 though when they took off for a much more EDM-forward remix of Tove Lo’s “Habits (Stay High).” The Vevo video for this has nearly 700 million views on YouTube.

A lot happened in 2014 for Hippie Sabotage, five albums to be exact. Aside from the Tove Lo remix, the group also got recognition for their song “Your Soul,” off of “The Sunny Album.” Two years after, “Providence” was released. Another year brought “Drifter” and a lot more plays for Hippie Sabotage as result of their morphing hip-hop forward sound.

Now, in 2019, Hippie Sabotages sound continues to morph and provide flares of outside genres.