What do you get when you combine bass music, lasers, and a good cause? Tape B & Friends: A charity benefit for Conscious Alliance! On Friday, November 22nd, Tape B (real name Kemal Berk Alkanat) brought an intimate pop-up show to the Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colorado. This show took place the day before his back-to-back nights at the Mission Ballroom down in Denver.
Alkanat is a heavy hitter in dubstep and bass music who’s gained support from Zeds Dead, Wooli, and others. He’s played at different venues and music festivals across the United States, including Lost Lands and Ultra Music Festival. A few of his most popular tracks are “Flip It – Tape B Remix” and “Dopamine” with Wooli.
Bass for a Cause
Alkanat’s Boulder show was a charity benefit event. Tickets for this one-of-a-kind event were only $25, and all proceeds after expenses are being donated. This speaks to his character and mission, showing his commitment to community while simultaneously producing innovative yet nostalgic, genre-bending tunes.
Alkanat partnered with Conscious Alliance for the event. “Conscious Alliance is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit hunger relief organization that unifies bands, brands, artists, and fans to collectively support communities in crisis,” according to their website. For every $1 donated, two meals are delivered to a family in need!
Getting the Party Started
As soon as the venue doors opened, excited ticket holders flooded in. Pashminas, event and artist jerseys, and sprouts were abundant. The venue has a balcony for those wanting a bird’s-eye view and theater seats to get comfy in, or they can head to the main floor. End Overdose, a non-profit working to end drug-related overdose deaths, had a table in the lobby as well.
Kicking off the night was Daggz B2B Don Jamal. The stage setup was simple with a table for the CDJs and house lights, and no LED visuals. The duo played a lot of dark, slow, wubs as the venue filled. They did an amazing job of slowly increasing the crowd’s energy. Less than half an hour into their set, the lasers came out and the tempo picked up. Everyone was dancing to their unique remixes of popular songs, including “Like a G6” by Far East Movement.
Up next on the decks was HEYZ. At this point, the venue was almost at capacity. HEYZ has more of a dubstep feel, and the crowd was headbanging for a handful of his heavy drops. The volume was cranked up for his set, and it was great to see a bunch of audience members putting in earplugs. (Protect your hearing, everyone. It’s important!) He had a lot of remixes of popular pop tracks that the crowd enjoyed, including “Ocean Eyes – HEYZ Flip.”
Tape B & (Many) Friends
Finally, it was time for Alkanat to take over the decks. Before he started playing, he thanked everyone for coming out and reminded them about the great cause behind the show. He also mentioned that he didn’t have anything planned so was going to wing it and “hope it goes well.” The Boulder Theater has a capacity of less than 1,000 people, so this was a really intimate show compared to his following shows at the Mission Ballroom, which has a capacity of almost 4,000 people.
The venue was packed at this point, but not uncomfortable. It was easy to move around and there was room to dance (unless you were up front in the pit of course). Alkanat played some new tunes along with some fire remixes. Changing the tempo and feel of each track kept the crowd on their toes. The combination of his sound properly scratching the crowd’s brains and the intricate lasers led to lots of “OOHHH!” crowd reacts.
When Alkanat said he’d bring out a ton of special guests, he was not exaggerating. Phrva, OkayJake, IDHS, Super Future, and Big Gigantic are just a few of the other artists who were on stage throughout the night. It was so fun to watch everyone on stage take turns on the decks and hype each other up. Everyone was hanging out on stage, and there were up to four or five artists on the decks at any time.
After midnight, the crowd started trickling out. At the same time, the sound got much funkier and slower. A lot of bass faces could be seen as the drops got nastier and grittier. When the show came to an end, Alkanat met with fans in the venue to take photos and sign merch.
Good Night, Boulder
Alkanat’s intimate pop-up was nothing but a success. Not only did it help raise money for a great cause, but it also allowed fans to see him perform in a much smaller setting with stripped-down production.
We can’t wait to have Tape B back in Colorado. Until then, keep updated on the remainder of his fall tour dates as well as 2025 shows via his website.
You can donate to The Conscious Alliance on Venmo @ConsciousAlliance.
Photos by Kyle Brim
