Kid Infinity beams concert-goers into a new land

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The wizardy of Ryan Pardeiro and Nathan Huber is still a work in progress, but the electro duo known as Kid Infinity succeeded Saturday night in turning a rustic ballroom at downtown’s Alexandria Hotel into something akin to the Holodeck on the U.S.S. Enterprise. In only their second live performance, Kid Infinity’s eye-popping 3D visuals offered a glimpse of the next generation of concert experiences.

Bring on the festivals.

It as almost an insult that people brought glowsticks to the show – it was like taking Boone’s Farm to a wine tasting. With the crowd furnished polarized 3D glasses, singer-programmer Pardeiro and DJ-programmer Huber performed in front of a large screen displaying animations that seemed to vault into, dance above and interact with the audience. Sci-fi, meet hi-fi.

The technology that spawned the visuals is the product of Visitech 3D, which had been developing them for use on a 90-by-30-foot screen planned for the Michael Jackson “This Is It” tour. After Jackson’s death, Huber – who works as an office manager for the company – received permission for the band to try the visuals at shows. The designs themselves are the vision of several animators.

The music itself was fairly standard electro fare – caustic and ravey – and, beyond pure volume, its effects virtually disintegrated in the room’s muddy sound mix. Not that anybody was too interested in dancing, anyway; most of the onlookers were too agape, transfixed on the visuals and, probably, imagining what Kid Infinity could do in front of thousands at an outdoor festival.