Concert Review Rites of Spring

By dtownknight Sunday April 19, 2009

Hailing from California Blue Sky Reality showed the crowd why they are quickly rising in popularity, gaining some new fans in the process. Front man Zak Stucchi lead the band through songs from their lastest E.P. The Cabin Sessions available on Itunes. Catch them out on their tour of the east coast with Third Eye Blind though May.

Backed by a five piece band and sporting a 2 foot bongo drum K’NAAN took center stage starting his portion of the party with the track ‘Bang Bang’. Moving though songs from his rightfully critically acclaimed album Troubadour, K’NAAN repped for his home country of Africa calling “T.I.A!” to which the crowd responded “WHOO RAY!”. Rocking a black shirt with an Africa outline, Rayzak hyped the crowd, amping K’NAAN’s vocals thoughout the set. Midway though the set K’NAAN‘s band fell to the back as he performed a emotionally changed acapella version of ‘Wavin Flag’ as the crowd waved their arms back and forth. Rapping about his home country and struggle of his past K’NAAN ended the set with ‘Somalia’ as the crowd filled in the ‘La La La’ vocals in unison.

As the sun started to set Okkervil River took the stage to grace the crowd with a chilled out folk performance. Singer Will Sheff connected to the crowd with his lyrics as if he was engaged in an intimate conversation with each concert goer. Blazing though older tracks as well as ‘Pop Lie’, ‘Lost Coastlines’ and ‘Starry Stairs’ from their latest release The Stand Ins, Okkervil kept the energy high, jamming with each other and taking advantage of their set time with a great light show.

A DJ played backing tracks as two figures, dressed in gold jackets, appeared on opposite sides of the stage. A low synth floated from the speakers inflating the crowds anticipation of Santigold’s performance. A moment later Santi bounced to center stage dressed in a bright blue jumpsuit and gold jacket shouting the lyrics for ‘You’ll Find A Way’. With a performance that shows she is worthy of her many accolades Santigold, burned though hits from Santigold including ‘Creator’ and ‘Say Aha’. ‘Smells like popcorn, right?’ she asked the crowd before breaking into ‘L.E.S. Artistes’. Apexing the set with ‘Shove it’, the Disco D produced hit which Kanye sampled for the Jay-Z song ‘Brooklyn Go Hard’, Santi informed the crowd that she had to ‘rep for my home’. As the crowd finally settled in Santi finished her set with ‘Creator’, ‘Starstruck’ and ‘Unstoppable’ to which the crowd chanted ‘I’ve got to be unstoppable’ with Santi responding ‘Vanderbilt, I believe you!’

As DJ Statik Selektah played a quote from Barack Obama, Q-Tip stormed the stage pumping his fist in the air. After paying tribute to J Dilla with the track ‘Fever’, Tip took a short pause before erupting into ‘Let’s Ride’. Mid way though the set the power to the audio went out causing Q-Tip to stop the band momentarily. Undeterred by the short in the cable, Tip found a working microphone and began to beatbox, entertaining the crowd while the problem was fixed. Performing for an hour and a half the second half of Tip‘s set played as a greatest hits including ‘Bonita Applebum’, ‘World Tour’, ‘Vivrant Thing’ and ‘Scenario’. Mixing party anthems with chilled out soul vibes Q-Tip made sure that a good time was had by all.

With T.I.’s DJ already onstage playing instrumentals a shadowy figure made his way to center stage. “Buck is in the building!” the DJ announced to ear splitting applause. Apparently Nashville was in the building also.

T.I. took the stage running through the 1st verses of most songs on his album as well as his guest verses from the previous year. T.I. sent a barrage of hits through the speakers that kept the crowd bouncing. Pausing between songs T.I. spoke to the crowd on his soon approaching time in jail, giving back to the community and helping the kids from his show ‘Road to Redemption’, at which point he brought Pee Wee out on stage to serve as hype man for the remainder of the concert. After an hour of hits T.I. finished strong with cuts from his newest album ‘Paper Trail’ including ‘Whatever You Like’, ‘My Life’ and ‘What You Know About That’ from ‘King’. As the first day of Rites of Spring came to a close the crowd exited fully satisfied and ready for day two.