Three shades of electronic-music hipster came together this past Sunday, August 29, at the Hollywood Bowl, thanks to a superstar lineup of the Chemical Brothers, Chromeo and Yacht. The lineage goes something like this: the Chemical Brothers brought electro thump to the second-wave rave generation back in the ‘90s, Chromeo evolved out of late-period electroclash in the 2004 to bring back the ‘80s, and Yacht recently broke out of the indie ghetto to find its greatest success, artistic and otherwise, by signing to LCD Soundsystem’s record label DFA and incorporating a decided electronic pulse to their artful New Wave/No Wave axis. Each of these groups share enough DNA to be relevant to each other in this context, yet prove different enough to make for a fascinating pairing, in what was a totally explosive, multimedia-luxurious climax to the summer concert season. Indeed, while each of these acts hail from DJ/nightclub culture, this event, part of KCRW’s World Music series at the Bowl, was not so much a rave per se but an electronic music concert, one where one could really appreciate the musical nuances and epic stage production involved without some random teenager wearing unfortunate rave trousers drooling on your shoulder whilst in a k-hole (well, at least not where I was sitting anyway…).

Part of what made that special was, despite the debt to DJ/electronic culture, each act really aspired—and succeeded—in putting a live show that thrilled as a complete experience. Openers Yacht truly set the bar high: for one, they were coming off one of the most compelling albums in recent memory, 2009’s See Mystery Lights. Yacht is most thought of as something of a one-man band for frontman Jona Bechtolt, although that changed with the addition of vocalist Claire L. Evans on See Mystery Lights, which was the indietronica equivalent of Fergie joining the Black Eyed Peas, with the exception that the move actually produced incredible music. In their performance at the bowl, however, Yacht the band experience was anything but a shrinking duo of indie violets: Bechtolt (resplendent in James Murphy-esque white suit) and Evans were backed up by an eight-member dance troupe in matching black/white outfits and a many member backing band that including at times three percussionists; the drummer even performed a drum solo in a tux! Evans was wonderfully Robyn-esque with her deconstructed, geometric hair, clothing and dance moves, slinking akimbo like a principal dancer in a greed-decade Karole Armitage production. The band merged arch post-punk attitude with real grooves and homemade humor; the presentation evoked 10 percent Napoleon Dynamite, 20 percent Liquid Sky, 20 percent Liquid Liquid, 20 percent Shriekback, and 10 percent the disco grooves of Chic. (Chicback, anyone?) It was an amazing show, one that truly exceeded expectations: Evans and Bechtolt really held their own, not just as openers but also commanding the huge expanse of the Bowl’s stage.

Robert Palmer music-video girls were seemingly the theme of the evening: Chromeo came out to similarly attired back up singers/dancers in monochromatic outfits (Chromeo’s featured red and black – the colors of anarchy – as opposed to Yacht’s black/white costuming). The sounds were as retro sonically as they were visually—the Montreal duo of P-Thugg and Dave 1 evoked Prince and Hall And Oates in their litebrite computer funk: fat synth bass, vocoders, and sexy come ons ruled the roost – sings like “Tenderoni” turned low pastiche into high art. Chromeo’s visual motif of two pairs of disembodied female legs proved a fantastic visual, the gams glowing ominously in different colors; it was like Vargas meets Magritte, with a beat you can dance to on hits like “Night By Night” and “Bonafide Lovin’.” These dudes know their way around a strobe light, their percussion jams were totally infectious, when they sang “I Want My Chromeo,” to the tune of “I Want My MTV,” well, that’s when the universe collapsed on itself in a state of perfect convergence.

The Chemical Brothers headlined the event, as well they should, being rave royalty and all. The Chems have so many hits, in fact, they opened the show with one of their biggest, the Q-Tip accompanied “Galvanize,” which was accompanied by amazing blue light imagery and Chem Ed Simons exhorting the crowd by example to put their hands in the air. Surrounded by banks of tech that looked like they could’ve come from the Avatar set, Simons and Chem cohort Tom Rowlands proceeded to crank out one of the most epic and original hour and a half shows seen ‘round these parts in some time. While Rowlands and Simons attempted stage presence—walking to the lip of the stage, say, to engage the crowd—it wasn’t really necessary, as this was as close to a dj set as live music can be, and pretty much that’s the point. If anything, this was the utopian ideal of the DJ set vibe, albeit crafted with vintage synths and other winsome gear, not turntables. “Galvanize” proved an epic liftoff to one of the Chems’ best sets, which featured o.g. hits like “Hey Girl, Hey Boy,” “Star Guitar,” “Out of Control” and “Saturate,” but really came to life on songs from the duo’s new album, Further. Rowlands and Simons really do have one of the greatest, most colorful visual shows, with lasers and surreal visuals featuring robots, scary rave clowns and all manner of incredible, artful psychedelic imagery, but it was the analog swooshes and dives of new track “Escape Velocity” that put the “mental” in experimental. Yes, this was incredibly forward music, especially to play to a crowd of 18,000, but rendered with the scale so that the presentation made sense. Seeing the catalog of the Chemical Brothers in this manner, one realizes that they are not “rave,” or “electronica,” but really a timeless block-rocking genre unto themselves. As they exited to the words “Love Is All” flashing on the enormous LED screen behind them, it proved a fitting message to cap an evening spanning three different eras of sublime electronic funk. “You are all my children now,” exclaimed the Chems’ scary rave clown at one point in their set, and from the audience through Yacht and Chromeo, he was right. It’s always the Summer of Acid House when the Chems play, just updated for the present day, and tonight was no different…