New York, April 3, 2008 - Billed as a benefit concert for the Burton snowboard company charity vehicle Chill, Thursday night's concert at New York University boasted the formidable lineup of Crystal Castles, Cool Kids, and El-P.  This line-up would easily sell out most medium sized clubs in the city, but tucked away in a fourth floor ballroom of NYU's Kimmel Center it was grossly under-attended. 

Just last week Crystal Castles with some help from the band Health easily sold-out Studio B in Brooklyn.  El-P handily sells out Irving Plaza when he plays there. 

The poor attendance was down to the venue and possible confusion about the openness of the show, which El-P was at pains to stress was open to the public on his MySpace page a day before the show.  The young student crowd was at its peak for Crystal Castle's opening set and subsequently diminished through Cool Kids and was nearly skeletal by the time El-P took the stage. Despite performing before the uncharacteristically thin crowd El-P, never really betrayed any acknowledgment of the absurdity of the situation, made possible by NYU's embarrassment of riches.

Ticket sales for El-P's upcoming tour with Britain's Dizzee Rascal, however, will not be a problem. - Damien Neva

Photos: Damien Neva