The Unapologetic Frequency of Thundercat

Thundercat at the Shrine Expo Hall, LA by Jacob Alvarez

HE PLAYED A SOLD OUT HOMETOWN SHOW IN LA

Before the pandemic hit and caused the country and most of the world to shut down back in 2020, one of the last shows I covered was Thundercat at the Wiltern in LA. That show was star-studded, with me snapping photos of him performing while celebrities like Ariana Grande, Syd, Steve Lacy, Beck, Mac DeMarco, and Brad Pitt watched from the VIP area. It was a great performance with a fantastic crowd, and this latest concert was similar to that one, with more nuance and ten times the crowd.

When it comes to a Thundercat show, it’s usually a family affair which is amazing. He shows his musicianship with having multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole open the show before billed opening act Channel Tres. Tres caused the room to shake with his set, having people dance to songs like “Black Moses” and especially “Topdown.” It was a late start too with many audience members thinking Thundercat would follow Tres’ set, however, they were in for a treat aka “Thundercat & FRIENDS.”

The filler music came to an end and the room darkened with the crowd cheering. None other than Flying Lotus, good friend and collaborator of Thundercat, entered stage left, leaving the audience stunned. He grabbed his mic and said hi to Los Angeles, introducing himself which led to an uproar in excitement. He began his DJ set with “Zodiac Shit” and even graced the crowd with a Captain Murphy cut “Mighty Morphin Foreskin.” Channel Tres got the room shaking but Flylo had the ground trembling. My favorite of the set was Flamagra cut “Black Balloons (Reprise)” that features Miami rapper Denzel Curry absolutely killing it. After about an hour, Flylo thanked the audience and got them amped for what was to come.

Anticipating the set, many in the audience looked to a large scale sculpture of a cat face, complete with wide eyes and an open mouth. As expected, Thundercat entered the stage via the cat mouth. “Just want to say that I went to middle school right down the street. I had my first recital in the other room,” Thundercat shared, showing his appreciation for his hometown and realizing how surreal it must feel after all these years to play a venue significant to his childhood. He immediately went into “Great Scott/22- 26,” jamming heavy with Louis Cole on drums for a few tracks including obvious nod “I Love Louis Cole/Overtime.”

What I appreciate about Thundercat is he always stays unapologetically himself. He played his entire set in anime attire, shared memories, and constantly made banter with the crowd as if everyone in the room were good friends. A topic such as anime admiration may seem silly to one but it is integral to Thundercat, pointing out fans who had anything anime related in the crowd and also playing a track off an anime he got to work on with Flying Lotus “Black Gold.”

An interesting part of the show came once two of the three Haim sisters (Este and Danielle) were brought on stage. Este Haim brought energy, grinding on Thundercat while he played bass before the band began the intro to Haim’s “3AM” off their great LP Women in Music Pt. III . Before finishing the track, Este took a nasty fall face first, but shook it off and shared a laugh with the crowd before exiting. “Este and I are the same,” Thundercat continued, showing his admiration for the Haim sisters.

At this point in the show, it’s around 1AM when Thundercat introduces Ty Dolla $ign for a lovely rendition of “Fair Chance” with a shoutout to Mac Miller and a story of loss that humbled Thundercat. He shared how Ty and the loss of Miller brought Thundercat to sobriety. It was a moment of honesty that was as sincere as possible, but then again, you get nothing but sincerity from Thundercat.

Other performances included stops from Steve Lacy for “Black Qualls” and fan favorite “Them Changes” with Kamasi Washington. The messages shared and music played resonated with everyone and myself to the max, due to the level of clarity that filled the room. Thundercat is an artist but also a person with his own problems, way of making music, and his own family. He puts it all on display because at the end of the night, with everything good and bad taking place everywhere, it simply is what it is. “It gets better,” he stated, and I couldn’t agree more. Check out the set list here!

PS: Check out our gallery of photos from the performance!