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“Bad Boy,” Yung Bae’s 2019 single with bbno$ and Billy Marchiafava, has more than 100 million streams on Spotify, and while I know I’ve heard it somewhere before, I can’t place where exactly. It’s a modern dilemma, to be so exposed to some circles and yet relatively unknown in others, but it’s not one that seems to bother the Portland-born DJ. Yung Bae (born Dallas Cotton) left his hometown for Los Angeles in 2018, but showed Portland plenty of love at the Star Theater on Nov. 15 as he tours his sixth album, 6ae.
Yung Bae and his opener, Las Vegas music producer Englewood, specialize in future funk, an electronic music genre characterized by brass and woodwinds that feel pulled from the mid-20th century but rearranged with percussion that pulses from a shinier dimension—think Daft Punk with more horns.
Englewood set the bar high for Yung Bae over a night split into two 90-minute sets. If his high-spirited mixes were an energetic nine, Yung Bae had no choice but to crank everything up to 11. More than 100 people packed onto the Star Theater’s sunken dance floor in front of the stage, keeping the DJs hyped with their energy and appreciation, while at peak point another 100-plus guests hung back to sip on cocktails, take a hot dog or cigarette break, or otherwise bop along to the beat instead of crowding together. Princess Sarah, the Star Theater’s resident cat and reportedly an electronic music aficionado, freely lounged on the Starlight Patio, purring in approval.
There was no break between sets, which may have explained a dip in energy partway through Yung Bae’s set. It was no fault of his own—dancers gave what they could until they signaled that they needed breaks. He read the room and brought down the tempo for a bit before the show ended at midnight, but Yung Bae cranked back up and ended the night on a high note.
