By Sofia Erichetti<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first thing that greeted me when I walked into The Anthem on October 28th to see Thundercat was a massive, inflatable cat with glowing red eyes overlooking the iconic venue. A DJ warmed up the audience with remixes of 80s funk and R&B songs, including Bell Biv DeVoe\u2019s \u201cPoison.\u201d When the spotlights shone out over the crowd, I spotted an eclectic bunch of people, many sporting funky prints, beanies resembling cat ears, and trendy moustaches. It was a decidedly cool and relaxed environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Thundercat, born Stephen Lee Bruner, came onstage, he was flanked on either side by his drummer, Justin Brown, and keyboardist, Dennis Hamm, on raised platforms. He occupied centerstage with a red, shiny, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
anim\u00e9-decorated bass guitar almost bigger than his body and an oversized black fur hat. The concert opened with his latest release, \u201cChildren of the Baked Potato.\u201d In the first half of his set, each song ended with a jamband-style interlude, during which Thundercat demonstrated his otherworldly bass playing and Brown rocked the drumset. The two complemented one another perfectly, and I heard several people in the audience remark on the talent of the drummer. Brown not only kept up with Thundercat\u2019s bass, but he added another dimension of rhythm and energy to the atmosphere. It was a joy to watch the cohesion between Brown and Bruner\u2019s playing, as the former\u2019s arms moved faster than I thought humanly possible and Thundercat swayed and danced across stage in a charming, easy manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thundercat had a natural rapport with the audience from the moment the show began. After playing snippets of unreleased songs, he teased the crowd about the state of his new album\u2013whether or not it would be ready for release soon. At one point, he shouted out Mac Miller and D\u2019Angelo, two prominent musicians and friends who passed away tragically in recent years. The set included a cover of a D\u2019Angelo song, \u201cLady,\u201d as well as Mac Miller\u2019s \u201cWhat\u2019s the Use?\u201d Before he played \u201cTron Song,\u201d an ode to his eponymous cat, Thundercat updated the crowd on his two pet felines, detailing a recent FaceTime call with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second half of the set saw Thundercat place more emphasis on his vocal performance, as opposed to the jamband-style interludes in the first half. In \u201cLava Lamp,\u201d a somber song reflecting on chasing someone who has passed on, Thundercat\u2019s soulful, expressive falsetto shone. His voice worked in tandem with Hamm\u2019s keyboard playing to evoke a feeling of mourning and quiet longing. Bruner joked with the crowd after that song, wondering aloud what could follow up such a serious performance. The tone quickly shifted when he played the opening chords to \u201cDragonball Durag,\u201d one of his most popular songs and a crowd favorite. He continued to bring the energy up before \u201cFunny Thing.\u201d The crowd was energized as Thundercat repeatedly asked who was ready to party with him and encouraged people to leave their seats and dance. The song was played at an uptempo pace that coincided with the heightened spirit of the crowd. It was by far the climax of the night, and Bruner and the crowd danced, together, through two play-throughs of \u201cFunny Thing.\u201d During the song, Bruner adjusted the lyrics and sang, \u201cBut I just wanna party with D.C.\u201d Afterwards, the encore sent the crowd home on a mellower note, as Thundercat finished up with a subdued, dreamlike performance of \u201cIt Is What It Is.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The show was a perfect cohesion of tempo, emotion, music, and crowd interaction, which reflects the balance that Thundercat strikes in his playing and production. It felt simultaneously genuine and effortful, and I appreciated the skill, energy, and unabashed sincerity that Thundercat brought to the performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Sofia Erichetti The first thing that greeted me when I walked into The Anthem on October 28th to see Thundercat was a massive, inflatable cat with glowing red eyes overlooking the iconic venue. A DJ warmed up the audience with remixes of 80s funk and R&B songs, including Bell Biv DeVoe\u2019s \u201cPoison.\u201d When the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}