After a winded day at Royal Oak the night before, I was ready to get back to the music theatre for round 2 by seeing Flying Lotus with opener Thundercat. I was tired heading into the concert venue but still ready to open my musical horizons and see what the show had to offer. Once again, I was in for a visual and musical treat.
Thundercat honored his name well by dressing up in a cat costume before proceeding to jam out with the piano guy. As a band who made all of their sounds live, I was very impressed with his ability to play in such a limiting suit while still maintaining a high level of performance. The music was feel good and positive, and I was able to notice the reverb he use with his electric guitar as well as the popular wah wah effect to get a wailing sound. While I was not familiar with the group’s music beforehand, I think they did a fairly good job of introducing people to what they were all about. They didn’t try to be too over the top, and instead, successfully hyped up the audience for the headliner act.
While struggling to stay awake for Flying Lotus, I was quickly recharged with energy when he came out in a suit and light glasses that stood out behind his large white screen. Standing behind this screen added to the mystery that is Flying Lotus, as he conducts his live performing behind a screen that projects his visuals. The visuals were like something I had never seen before–very trippy and very mesmerizing. They would go from feeling like you were traveling in space to protruding out different shapes and colors for a 3-D effect. All the while, you were able to take in the atmosphere of people happily dancing around you and connecting to the music in ways they never could listening to it on their own at home.
Even when the music was something I didn’t like, I tried to understand the reasons for his putting that section into part of the show. Artists make very calculated decisions, especially when it come to electronic music where music order is super important as it aligns to the visual production side of things in this case. Flying Lotus live was absolutely worth the money to attend on a Thursday night in the middle of a busy week. I was impressed with the enthusiasm generated by him and his visual team to create an unparalleled concert experience. Even though I left early because of feeling way too tired, for the time I was there I had a great time.
