Sofi Tukker

Marquee Theater, Tempe, AZ

April 19, 2023

Review and Gallery By: Hannah Kelly

Anabel Englund, a DJ / singer hailing from Southern California, started off the night of dancing with her bright and carefree tracks. Much like Sofi Tukker, Anabel is one of the select few house artists who has the chops to both DJ and deliver live vocals during her performances. Having not listened to her music prior to seeing her this evening, I was not anticipating her to be singing live during the show. I was blown away by her smooth live vocals as well as her ability to DJ. Her style is very akin to Sofi Tukker, which made her the perfect opener for the night of house music and good vibes.

Bob’s Dance Shop came next to stage. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what I saw…and I loved it. Maybe other people could gather this from the name, but Bob’s Dance Shop is just that, a dance shop. The four person crew got their start during the pandemic, gaining fame on tik tok with their dynamic and dramatic virtual dance classes. They took the stage in neon outfits and performed a three song, energetic set of twerking and body rolling.

As quickly as Bob’s Dance Shop appeared, they were gone and in a cloud of smoke Sofi Tukker emerged. The duo, composed of Sophie Hawley-Weld  and Tucker Halpern, kicked off the set with “Energia,” a song inspired by Brazilian beats and lyrics in Portuguese to match. The South American beats pumped as the pair ran around the stage energizing the crowd.

After playing through the first few songs of the set, Halpern unveiled a scoreboard, one side reading “Tempe” and the other “Coachella”. The objective being to outdo the festival crowd with more energetic dancing, singing and jumping. The crowd in Tempe easily racked up more points than the Coachella weekend one crowd. Not that Sofi Tukker made it hard. Aided by the dance stylings of Bob’s Dance Shop, the duo played through their hit songs like “Summer in New York”, “Batshit”, “Purple Hat”, and “Drinkee”, making it easy for the crowd to keep their energy the whole time.

The entire venue, including me, was jumping and having the time of their lives the entire set. I even ran my camera equipment out to my car so that I could fully enjoy the music and dance freely. This was my first ever house / EDM show, and I left knowing it wouldn’t be my last. Whether it be a club in Vegas, a venue in Tempe or a music festival, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to see Sofi Tukker rock a stage.