Live Music Spotlight ::: Outkast at CounterPoint 2014

     Let me start off this post by saying this: The crowd at Coachella DID NOT deserve the privilege of seeing Outkast's first live show in over a decade. They were much too apathetic towards the event and towards two members of hip-hop royalty that deserved much, much better. There would be no "Southern Hip-Hop" genre without Antwan "Big Boi" Patton and Andre "3000" Benjamin. That being said, the crowd at CounterPoint, which took place about an hour away from Outkast's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, was more than prepared to give Andre 3000 and Daddy Fat Saxxx the reception they truly deserved.
     I only had two problems with this show. First, there was not enough space at the main stage to handle this crowd. The Blu Freedom Stage at CounterPoint was a good bit smaller than most typical main stages at music festivals, and it just did not have the room to accommodate both the 3-day attendees and the influx of people that bought Sunday only passes so that they could see Stankonia come to life. Second, the start of the show was delayed by about 30 minutes because the crew had trouble getting the big cube that was a part of the show production to work (The crowd got so antsy that everyone started chanting "F*** that box!" in unison). Bottom line: if you have an hour in between shows to prep the next show, that is plenty of time to work that stuff out. Negativity out of the way, I will now tell you a story about the time I finally saw Outkast...

     As soon as the lights went out and the opening bars to "B.O.B." started, you knew this was going to be a completely different environment than the one that Outkast was "treated to" at Coachella. The fact that this show turned into one long singalong/dance party was seen as much onstage as it was in the crowd. Big Boi and Andre clearly fed off the crowd energy, much more so than in the Indio desert. The kids who go to Coachella on their Daddy's dime had probably never even heard of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. At one point, Big Boi even thanked the crowd and showed some love for how much energy the home state audience was giving their favorite sons. During "B.O.B.", the entire crowd was jumping from side to side and swinging their arms around like those inflatable tube men you see at used car dealerships. We all know Andre 3000 is a quirky guy and that can be somewhat moody, but that was not an issue at this show because the crowd kept him happy all night. From "B.O.B." the duo transitioned into "Gasoline Dreams" and "ATLiens", followed by five straight songs from Aquemini (Skew It On the Bar-B, Rosa Parks, Da Art of Storytellin' Pt 1, Aquemini, and SpottieOttieDopaliscious). For those who have wondered: the name Aquemini comes from combining the names of the two astrological signs of the band members; Gemini for Andre and Aquarius for Big Boi. After this run of Aquemini songs, the duo played the song that launched them into international superstardom: "Ms. Jackson" off of the Stankonia album. The scenes in the crowd for this song were pretty amazing. I didn't see one pair of lips in the entire place not singing along to the chorus.

     After Ms. Jackson, Andre 3000 headed to the back for a little break while Big Boi did two songs by himself (Kryptonite and GhettoMusick) and one with Sleepy Brown (The Way You Move). During those first two songs, the crowd went absolutely crazy. It was definitely close quarters near the front of the stage, and people were dropping their phones left and right. There are some people out there who get mad at seeing a bunch of phones taking pictures and videos at a concert, but don't count me as one of them, particularly at this historic of a show. Who wouldn't want to be able to remember this historic moment for years to come? Anyway, "The Way You Move" was a blast and everyone enjoyed dancing along to the track from Big Boi's side of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. As much fun as these songs were, Big Boi decided that it was time for him to take a little halftime break, and Andre 3000 came out to do a short solo set of his own.

(Hit the jump for the 2nd half of the show)

     All three of the songs from Andre's solo part of the show were from The Love Below. He started with "She Lives in My Lap" and when that funky, wavey, synthesized, outer-space sounding computer beat hit, everyone started breaking it down. It's the type of song that you can't help but groove to. He followed this up by serenading the ladies in the audience with "Prototype", which was the only time during the entire show where everybody was standing still, it was a surreal moment. After this, Andre addressed the crowd with "Let me hear you say Hey Ya!" and it seemed like everyone within a five mile radius obliged. He then teased the crowd: "We shouldn't do this song; this song right here? F*** it. 1,2,3..." and the crowd proceeded to scream (not sing) every word of "Hey Ya!". During the song, Andre kept asking for a lady to dance with, and none other than Janelle Monae obliged. The issue with this song at Coachella was that, due to the crowd being so BUSTED, Andre seemed like he was disinterested and phoned it in. That was not an issue here. Andre looked like he was having the time of his life throughout the entire show, and I'm glad that I could be one of the people helping him out.

     Once 3000 was done with his three solo songs, Big Boi returned to the stage and the boys from Tri-Cities went back to their roots, playing four straight songs from their first ever album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, with the first three being played as one long song. When the low bass intro to "Hootie Hoo" started playing (one of my all time favorite rap songs), it was like Christmas come early for this Outkast fan. They then segued into the more mellow "Crumblin' Erb" with more help from Sleepy Brown. Up next was the title track from the album. After those three tracks, Big Boi announced, "This is from Day one", which was followed by the first ever Outkast song "Players' Ball". It was absolutely amazing hearing that song a day after the 20 year anniversary of the release of their debut album. "Cuz I'm a player, doin' what the player's do; the package store is closed, okay my day is ruined!" I mean come on, we've all been there. After this, they slowed it down with "Elevators (Me and You)" off their second album, ATLiens. This song put the crowd into a temporary trance as everyone just seemed content to stand there and listen to the lyrical genius; it really is an incredible track. It describes the formation of the group, their evolution as artists up to that point, and how much work it took to get there. The line "went from Players' Ball to ballers" sums it all up, but for good measure, they also remind everyone how they were "Puttin the south up on the map..." which is 100% accurate. 

     Party mode was quickly restored after this with "Roses", one of the standout hits from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. This song, along with "GhettoMusick" are really the only true Outkast songs from that album, as they are the only ones that feature both artists on them. The crowd had fun belting out "Caroliiiiiine" multiple times and Andre had the biggest smile on his face the whole time he was performing this song, which put a big smile on my face as well. The next two songs were "So Fresh, So Clean" and "International Players Anthem", a song they did with UGK (Underground Kings, made up of Bun B and Pimp C) and they performed it here as a tribute to Pimp C, who died in 2007. To close out the set, the original ATLiens performed "The Whole World" and brought out Killer Mike to perform his verse from the track. I was both happy and sad during this song: happy because I love the track and Killer Mike coming out made it that much more awesome, sad because I knew it was their closing number. The show ended with the boys thanking the crowd for an incredible night, but come on guys, it was those of us lucky enough to be in attendance that should have given you all the thanks in the world for one of the best nights any music festival has ever had.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Here's a shot of the cube.

 

B.O.B.

 

ATLiens

 

Da Art of Storytellin' Part 1

 

Ms. Jackson

 

Hey Ya!

 

Hootie Hoo/Crumblin' Erb/Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

 

Players' Ball

 

Elevators (Me and You)

 

The Whole World (ft. Killer Mike)