Welcome to Freetown Sound, after the break!
Blood Orange & Friends @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel (08/25/16)
Been spending most of my 2016 days patrolling around the synthetic community of “Freetown Sound“. Living deep within the prejudicial world Dev Hynes & his angels sneak around in; playing super heroes of self-confidence. At least… that’s how I see some of the record. This is an album so deep of meaning that it continues fascinates me. The structure & execution feels personal on top of being contradicting. It a masterpiece and I got to hear the entire thing live this Thursday night at the Ace Hotel. Consider myself lucky.
Have been a fan of Dev Hynes‘ shadow projects for a few years now, where he acted as writer, performer, and featured artist alongside some of your favorite musicians. Here’s a list to prove my point: Jessie Ware, Tinashe, Solange Knowles, Sky Ferreira, FKA twigs, Florence and the Machine, Carly Rae Jepsen, Diana Vickers, The Chemical Brothers and Kylie Minogue. Damn is right. His sophomore 2013 LP – Cupid Deluxe – missed my radar by a few years so “Freetown Sound” was my entrance into his high caliber production value, cultural-political-and sexual personal messages, & tender siren calls. Talk about a smack across the face (actually ear drums).
Happily, that’s what we got two nights at the Ace Hotel. The entire “Freetown Sound” experience. Blood Orange didn’t hold back in presentation. His “Welcome to Freetown” experience hopped around the album’s track list even throwing in musical clips from some of his discography – “It Is What It Is”, “Champagne Coast”, etc. – in the same sentence & beats as his Freetown collection.
I tried to keep track of all the medleys. However, my eyes were on Dev & his dance collectively fiery moves. You wouldn’t expect a political record to make you dance. The Blood Orange squad rivals what you’d experience at Sia’s shows: Art, Dance, and addictive tunes. Main reason why I love “Freetown Sound”. You try telling Dev to stop dancing. He loses himself in it all. Wonderful sight to see really. We never stopped applauding.
Then you have impressive list of cameos from Calry Rae, Nelly Furtado, Empress Of, and Zuri Marley that really help bring the album to life. Almost every female voice from “Freetown” made an appearance on stage over the course of the evening. Nelly Furtado took my breath away during her solo on “Hadron Collider”. Still get chills thinking about it. Dev is more a producer than a performer, so him producing on stage with all the drums, keyboard, guitars, and these wonderful angels made it feel like he was recreating the world he built before. How dope is that!
You don’t normally get a true album experience live like this on a night out. One special guest. Normally backing track. Hell, even a hologram or two. But nothing compares to when an artist… a true one … brings his vision to life. Shatters any preconceived notion of what you think a live show should be. Blood Orange destroyed everyone I had seen up to this point (well, maybe not Kanye West but still). We won’t ever get a moment like this. And lighting struck twice here in LA. Three times if you count the buzz that happened at FYF on Sunday. Truly amazing. Never replicated.
You should be happy that Tidal got it on tape. Watch Night 1 of Blood Orange’s “Welcome to Freetown” below!
The Ace Hotel made the best venue for this showcase. Cheers to FYF After Dark. The classic ‘Art Deco’ interior made Blood Orange’s show feel like a vintage play. My advice: always go see a show at the Theatre at Ace Hotel. Classy stuff. And if you have time afterwards, head up to the Upstairs bar for romantic moment of the downtown LA skyline.
This is one show I’ll always remember. Thank you Dev and his Freetown Squad for a show of a lifetime contender.
Spoiler: Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound will be high on my “Best of 2016” album list. Recommend it highly as Daisy Ridley indirectly recommended it to me in a few now deleted Instagram posts. The way music comes into my life isn’t conventional to say the least. That’s how I like it.
PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES
Normal affair. Nikon powershot equipped. Ace Hotel’s lights are quite dark. So the closer you are to the front & middle the better. Got lucky at times because I was facing a huge spotlight behind Dev. Warning, the subjects liked to dance and unless you have a fast shutter (1.2) you’re gonna get blurry shots regardless of position. Wait for the slower songs.
