On Tuesday, Thundercat stopped at Red Rocks as part of his “In Yo Girl’s City” tour. The show was a frenetic extravaganza that blended melody with dissonance and astounding musicianship. It largely eschewed standard musical convention in favor of an experience that pushed past the regular limits of human comprehension to flirt with insanity.
READ: Goose Unites Thousands at Red Rocks
It was a star-studded night with rapper and actor Zach Fox — well known for his role as Tariq on the hilarious Abbot Elementary — kicking things off with a quick but impressive solo set. Acting as his own DJ while calling upon his roots as a stand-up, Fox had the crowd bouncing and laughing in tandem, at one point hitting on a woman in a wheelchair as she rolled past him on her way to her spot up front and extolling the virtues of only smoking mids at another.
Fox’s set was followed by the young viral sensations, The Linda Lindas. Theirs was a surprisingly mature punk set given that the band’s 4 members’ ages range from 13-19. They seemed endearingly flustered as they spoke about having to do homework backstage but each took a turn singing and ripping through these incredibly fast-paced punk tunes about growing up, revolution, and their bass player’s cat. It’s going to be exciting to see where these kids go as time goes on.
Smino was up next and he came out hot, the crowd immediately turning up along with him. It’s important to note that people of all shapes, sizes, colors, sexualities, ages all came together to turn up that night, the crowd an eclectic sea of life and color. The fashion element was high, with fits ranging from cat onesies to immaculate Haute-couture, everyone wearing something interesting. It felt simultaneously special and existential being in that crowd, a small part of a great and beautiful whole.
Smino’s set moved quickly, the rapper swiftly moving through songs such as “No L’s” and “Amphetamine.” He was joined onstage by an incredibly tight 7-piece band, with drums, bass, guitar, keys, a singer and two DJs that also acted as hype-men. At one point, Smino told the crowd something along the lines of “Damn, these shrooms are hitting.” About ten minutes later, after having the left side of the crowd and the right engage in a screaming battle, he stayed looking up at the rocks and the crowd for just a little too long before bringing the set to an end.
Next came Thundercat. It first must be noted that this set felt like madness itself, unquantifiable, intangible, an onslaught of uncompromising musicality that disoriented as much as it comforted. It seemed to say “We’re all mad down here” as Thundercat grinned a wide grin and led the audience all the way down the rabbit hole.
Throughout the night, the stage had been adorned with a massive inflatable “thundercat” similar to the inflatables that football players hit the field through as well as two big glowing mushrooms on either side of the stage. Thundercat entered through the inflatable — his iconic, massive 6-string custom Ibanez bass in tow — along with keys player Dennis Hamm and drummer “Disco” Justin, who played the whole set with a disco ball on his head.
Thundercat thanked the crowd for coming out before marveling at the rocks, saying “I can’t believe I made it here. I should totally be dead already.” The set began with the smooth, melodic “Lost in Space/ Great Scott/ 22-26,” the opening track of his 2020 album, It Is What It Is. The song’s only about a minute long and it served as a moment of calm before the coming storm.
The peace broke with the song’s end and the band then went off. Thundercat absolutely shredded that giant bass, delving into atonal movements that denoted a confidence reserved for the truly talented. It was as if he was saying “I know I’m not for everyone but deal with it.” It sounded like he was playing three notes more than necessary at each instance which created this hard-to-define intricacy that was enhanced by Hamm and “Disco” Justin matching him with mind-blowing syncopation.
It was decidedly not for everyone as some in the crowd gave up halfway through. It was incredibly challenging music so this was understandable and almost expected. Either way, Thundercat was unbothered as he shone a wide smile out into the crowd throughout, clearly having the time of his life whether the crowd liked it or not.
Despite its musical intensity, the show was not without its moments of tenderness. Thundercat’s been in the game for a long time, getting his start when he was 15 with crossover thrash legends Suicidal Tendencies, whose alumni also include Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo as well as legendary drummer Thomas Pridgen among many others. Over the years, Thundercat’s been involved in projects from some of the biggest artists of all time such as Kendrick Lamar and many, many others. He made a lot of close friendships in the industry as a result, most notably Mac Miller, who passed away in 2018. He took a moment to remember Miller and others he’s lost along the way while also shouting out Suicidal Tendencies and all that they did for him. It truly was a touching moment.
The insanity resumed as the band moved through revamped versions of songs such as “Black Qualls,” “Overseas,” and “Dragonball Durag,” during which a pretty noticeably tripping Smino came out for a verse. The band eventually arrived at Thundercat’s most recognizable song, “Them Changes.” The version they played felt electric, vital, the musicians merely serving as a conduit as the song became an entity unto itself. It came to an end and so did the set.
The encore came quickly and was quite brief but huge, each of the three band members absolutely going off to create this symphonic meteor of sound that shattered the world of each person in that audience. When the last notes were played, Thundercat thanked the crowd again and left the crowd to find their way back out through the looking glass.