We headed to the U St area to catch Big Gigantic and gLAdiator at the 9:30 Club. The two groups lived up to their mighty names, producing an electrifying concert for fans at the sold out show. Big G began in Boulder in 2008 before making it big with their debut album Fire It Up. The duo, saxophonist/producer Dominic Lalli and drummer Jeremy Salken, has traditional DJ-based music with live instruments.

We snapped Salken, who told us he “loves performing in DC” since he’s from Richmond. He said, “We just got so lucky with everything taking off, I still can’t believe it. Sometimes I think I could quit right now, and still be happy with everything we’ve done.”

Here’s Big G’s Lalli. They’ve developed quite a following: Covington’s Andrew Bowles told us he was seeing them for the fifth time.

gLAdiator, the DJ duo from LA comprised of Danl and Ian (on the left, with two fans), went from being “Biology and English majors” to playing music around the country. They gave us advice for all aspiring DJs: “Be nice to your audio people, they make your music sound good.”