Photo: Press
When it comes to live performances Anderson .Paak is one of the most consistent artists doing it. Every time the Californian takes to the stage he puts on a show as – if not more – energetic than his last. Like a cockerel first thing in the morning, he’s loud, proud and born to do what he does.
Proving this statement to be true once again, his sold out show at the Kentish Town Forum on Sunday night was excellent to say the least. Performing old and new solo material, a few tracks from his NxWorries collaboration project with Knxwledge, he also brought out a very special surprise guest. Put it this way, A.P and his band, The Free Nationals, could not be accused of short-changing those in attendance on this particular evening.
In-between fan favourites ‘Heart Don’t Stand A Chance’, ‘The Season/Carry Me’ and ‘The Bird’ from his critically acclaimed 2016 Grammy-nominated album Malibu, the man behind the mic often became the man behind the sticks as he took to the drums more times than not. A trademark move by the Aftermath artist, even if you’ve already seen him do it a hundred times it never gets old – do you know how hard it is to keep time on a drum kit while singing the entire song and directing the rest of the band? No? Didn’t think so. That’s the genius of Anderson .Paak, raw talent at its finest.
Highlights included when he stripped back his and Knxwledge’s ‘Suede’ teasing the audience with a constant break in the instrumentation making them think it was over on more than one occasion. Then there was the throwback to his Venice project pulling out ‘Luh You’ and encouraging the crowd to get involved in a bit of back and forth chanting which went down a storm and could have carried on all night.
Putting fans in a heightened state of euphoria – even if it was brief – by performing his part from Mac Miller’s ‘Dang!’, it might have been emotional but not as emotional as when he brought out Syd of The Internet followed by the rest of the band. While Syd’s live vocals for ‘Girl’ weren’t as on-point as you’d expect them to be just the fact that she and The Internet were there was enough to satisfy the already hyped up audience.
Anderson .Paak is an artist that needs to be seen live by every fan of music regardless of genre preference. Missed his Kentish Town Forum show? He’s currently touring as support for Bruno Mars whose 24K Magic World Tour hits the UK this week.
