The hype for Disclosure’s secret show in Boston was through the hipster-cool roof leading up to their August 7th show. Potential attendees competed in a series of viral campaigns on social media with the hashtag #musicexperiment to win into this experience. Everyone expected the craziest night of the year, treatment to tell all of their friends who couldn’t make it how much fun they had.

I arrived some time after the doors had opened, physician and there was still a long line of people waiting to get into the South End’s historic Cyclorama (Doolittle was recorded here!!!). The crowd varied from people dressed to the nines in black suits to crust punks who probably stumbled in off the street. The Cyclorama was decked out for the event with a video screen streaming live Instagram photos from the event, medical photo booths to share photos of your gts (good times duh) to your Facebook and Twitter buds, and body painting stations to make your flawless skin glow in the blacklights. MTV Iggy’s presence wasn’t as obvious as Intel’s, who had sponsored the photo booths and plastered their name all over the walls.

Around 11:15 pm, everyone in the crowd started clapping and dancing even before Disclosure took the stage. The party would start without them. Five minutes later, an ominous female voice introduced Disclosure, the two British brothers who have blown up the electronic scene in the last year or so, making a big break in the states with their full-length, Settle, this year. The moment they started, I noticed something was terribly wrong with the sound. It would have sounded better streaming through Spotify out of my Macbook speakers. It wasn’t loud. There was no bass. It sounded washed out, and you can’t blame Disclosure. I caught half of their set at Osheaga in Montreal this past weekend, and they sounded amazing. The Cyclorama just isn’t meant for this kind of ordeal apparently.

Anyone sober recognized this, but luckily for Disclosure, most of the crowd was very much not that. One crowd member next to me was profusely sweating and asked me if I was “seeing the colors he was seeing.” Another guy asked me if I wanted some “vapor rub for my roll.” It was highly uncomfortable to say the least.

The crowd went crazy for ‘bangers’ such as “When a Fire Starts to Burn,” “Grab Her!,” and “White Noise.” Unlike most electronic acts, Disclosure actually play instruments and sing in their sets. Music with actual instruments: who would have seen this in 2013? The brothers would switch back and forth on electric drum kits and synth. The older of the two, Guy Lawrence, often played a bass guitar and sang vocals. For their last track of the night, they called out Sam Smith, who sings on the song “Latch” to perform that song with them. The whole crowd pulled their phones out to grab videos and photos of the performance. After Disclosure exited the stage, the ominous female voice came over the system again to thank everyone for participating in the music experiment.

I wish I could say that the terrible sound didn’t ruin the evening, but I can’t. The experiment was a success, and as a social media enthusiast, I enjoyed the experience of watching the night unfold. The ending just didn’t cut it.