Pop Culture Journalism Class Blog

By Zohra Alnoor

The floor is sticky and wet, my clothes are drenched in sweat that’s not all my own, and I’m sure I’ll have lost hearing in my left ear in the morning. But if you were to ask me how I’m feeling, I would say, “I am in bliss.”

Why? Well, because less than ten feet away from me are two Frenchmen, who make up the electronic duo, Justice, and they are playing their sweet tunes at the 9:30 Club. I’ve waited four years for this concert since I first discovered their music through YouTube video hopping. The wait is over, I am here, and I am loving it.

Justice is made up of Xavier de Rosnay, 30, and Gaspard Augé, 33. Their debut album, † (yes, just the symbol. Pronounced ‘cross’), was released in 2007 and featured a light theme of the church, with songs names such as, ‘Genesis,’ ‘Let There Be Light,’ and ‘Waters of Nazareth.’

Augé once told Mojo magazine the reason for them creating the basis of their group’s image from such an iconic figure such as a cross. “It came from a very simple idea which was to compare the energy you can have in a church, the kind of mystical vibe of it, and the energy you can find in a club. Everybody is gathering together and focusing at the same point.”

On Wednesday, March 21^st, 2012, after four long years, Justice returned to D.C. for a concert featuring their newest songs and remixes.

Tickets for the concert cost $35 and were sold out in the first hour that they went on sale though Ticketfly in mid-December. I was lucky enough to grab a pair.

After months of waiting, the night of the concert arrived and I was more than ready. The show began at 8 p.m. with an opening set by DJ Busy P aka Pedro Winter, Justice’s manager, as well as the creator and owner of their record company, Ed Banger Records.

Finally, at exactly 9:30 p.m., Justice stepped out onto a dark stage and took the last few moments before the show began to stare out into the screaming crowd. Suddenly, their giant cross, standing in the center of their switchboard podium, illuminated the whole room. Then it began. After an hour and a half, it was over. It was epic. My body was sore for days after being thrown up, down and all around that mosh pit. Not that I’m complaining.

But alas, my night did not end there. Oh no. Not even close. After the crowds died down and the streets were basically empty, my fellow Justice-obsessed friend and I waited by the duo’s tour bus along with maybe ten or 15 other fans. We weren’t expecting much. Maybe a wave, a blurry picture, maybe even, oh God, eye contact! It didn’t matter; any one of those would make us as giddy as school girls. So imagine our surprise when the chain-smoking Frenchmen stopped and took pictures with every fan waiting, then signed autographs, and then took pictures once again since some fan’s pictures came out blurry (:cough cough: me). My friend and I were literally the only girls in this whole group and were given first dibs by the gentlemen around us for autographs, pictures, etc. Justice fans are honestly the most well-mannered fans I’ve met! Love it.

In the end, I couldn’t have asked for more that evening. I’ll now have to wait for the next Justice concert, which hopefully won’t be in another four years. In the meantime, I’ll keep the memories alive with my phone full of pictures and videos and of course, heal my aching (but happy!) body until the French arrive again.