Brockhampton’s live show continues to evolve

There aren’t many firsts for me when it comes to Brockhampton (BH) shows. I’ve been to over 10 of their shows, and, at the risk of sounding pretentious, I pretty much consider myself a self-proclaimed veteran of their concerts. However, I can say that Friday night’s concert at Stanford’s Frost Amphitheater was the first time I’ve ever been to one with an ankle I had sprained just two nights prior. 

Despite the fact that it was merely a mild sprain and I was walking fine the day of the concert, I was considering not going in fear that I’d only make the injury worse. But my desire to maintain my streak of seeing them on every tour they’ve ever done ultimately got the better of me (and my health). Also, I really loved GINGER (2019) — while probably not my favorite BH album, it’s arguably the one that I’ve replayed the most — and I was excited to see it come to life. Nevertheless, on the long train ride from Berkeley to Palo Alto, I was very anxious about the irrational prospect of my foot becoming damaged beyond repair — or popping off — in the Brockhampton pit. The first time people started pushing in the audience, which happened during slowthai’s set, I was hopping on my one good foot and begging God for mercy. 

However, this fear dissolved no more than 5 minutes into BH’s set. The sheer adrenaline of the show overpowered any feelings of pain in my ankle, and I could focus on the greatness that was unfolding in front of my eyes. In fact, I was physically able to push my way to the barricade halfway through the show. 

Beside a busted foot, the experience as a whole was amazing. 100 gecs was the first opener, and as someone who had never listened to any of their music prior to this outing, I was absolutely stunned at how bizarre the set was. Two bleach-blonde, long-haired white people, who I now know were Dylan Brady and Laura Les, meandered on stage carrying what looked like a Christmas tree with no decorations on it and then took their performative positions. Brady, sporting a wizard’s hat, and Les, wearing a face mask, proceeded to perform the most exaggerated and absurd emo-pop-trap I’ve ever heard. Both of their voices were autotuned beyond any semblance of vocal authenticity, and they knew it. They repeatedly shouted robotic WOOs at each other and the crowd, and their ceaseless crooning was often ear-splitting and mind-numbing. They performed songs like “stupid horse,” “money machine,” and “ringtone,” all of which evoked a perky silliness that was as likeable as it was ridiculous. At one point in between songs, I overheard two people directly behind me give their authentic first impressions:

“It’s purposely bad. It’s so bad, it’s good.”

“Yeah, I can see how it’s ironic.”

I don’t know much about the duo, but I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that there must be some sort of self-aware irony behind their package, because the whole ordeal was just so laughably outlandish. Nonetheless their music was somehow fun and catchy, and the show was a blast to spectate. I particularly enjoyed when they would insert instrumental interludes between songs, during which Brady would play the keys and Les would pick up a guitar. 

Slowthai was up next. He was an obvious candidate for an opener because of his appearance on GINGER and his recent success with the release of Nothing Great About Britain (2019). The young UK rapper came out for a pretty bare-bones set, with only him and a DJ occupying the stage. He did the typical rapper thing where he came out with a hoodie on and gradually stripped down to his bare torso, revealing his eclectic mix of upper-body tattoos. Much like with 100 gecs, I wasn’t super familiar with slowthai’s work, and I assume the same was true for most of the audience, because of our general silence during a good chunk of his live cuts. 

However, he worked with what he had and tried to make the experience as enjoyable as possible for us, and there were definitely a few standouts. “HEAVEN BELONGS TO YOU,” slowthai’s solo track off of GINGER, was always going to get a crowd of Brockhampton supporters going. We rapped along to his entire verse, shouting clever lines like “Fuck God, I’m a dog backwards” at the tops of our lungs. He also did “WHAT’S GOOD” from Tyler, the Creator’s critically acclaimed IGOR (2019). I’ll be honest, I didn’t even know he had a feature on this track, but playing a Tyler song at a Brockhampton show was another no-brainer, and the crowd got truly wild for the first time all night in response. 

He reached a little further back into his discography to perform “GTFOMF,” which he prefaced with a short monologue about how we all need to tell people who mess with us to “get the fuck out of my face.” This set the precedent for all of us to sing along with that exact phrase as it was repeated in the hook. Slowthai maintained this energy by bringing up a kid from the barricade to rap Skepta’s verse in “Inglorious.” The kid introduced himself as Alex, and we were all chanting his name by the time he was walking off stage. “Psycho,” slowthai’s collaboration with Denzel Curry, was the track I was anticipating the most from the set, and it did not disappoint. The song, with one of the nastiest beats I’ve heard all year and some very aggressive deliveries, had us jumping like maniacs. Sometime during the set, Bearface and Romil Hemnani came out and watched from the sidelines, which everyone from the crowd who could see them went crazy for. When it got closer to the set’s end, they retreated backstage.

About 20 minutes or so after slowthai, the lights dimmed, and we heard a surprising yet oddly familiar acoustic guitar. The stage still empty and everything dark, the words “All along it was a fever” suddenly echoed around the newly constructed amphitheater. It was Rihanna’s vocals from the song “Stay.” The crowd quickly joined in and belted along from the verse to the chorus. Even though Riri herself wasn’t in attendance, it was a beautiful moment of solidarity that made me shed a tear. When she finally hit the long-winded “stay” in “I want you to stay,” the stage lit up. “Stay” cut off, and the rumbling bass of “ST. PERCY” came on. 

What a start to a show it was to go from something as soft as “Stay” to a song that sounds like the sonic manifestation of black Air Force Ones. With a spotlight on him and three crosses lit above his head on the stage’s ceiling — that were incorporated likely because of GINGER’s religious undertones — Kevin Abstract emerged alone on stage to rap the opening verse of the track. When the snare finally came in, bursts of steam shot out from the front of the stage — I must say, the group really stepped it up for the stage design on this tour. One-by-one, the other members appeared and performed their verses. All of them were wearing the same orange jumpsuit, similar to the one they used to wear during the SATURATION days. 

The audience roared at finally having its first glimpse at the dudes they had bought tickets for. When Merlyn came out to bark his closing “murder man” line, everyone lost their shit. The beat then transitioned into the next track on the album, “IF YOU PRAY RIGHT,” which they performed and then directly followed with “ZIPPER” from the last installment of the SATURATION trilogy in 2017. These three bangers perfectly set the tone for the rest of the show. 

For the next hour and a half, BH and the BH audience traded off each other’s unrelenting vivacity in a way that has been the standard of every BH show I’ve ever been to — even the earlier ones, where they were playing in front of 200 or so people. I still stand by the idea that having so many vocalists on stage at once is a sure-fire formula for a great show. There was never a moment where energy was lost from the performers on the stage in front of us. What’s more is that they have made obvious improvements in their collective stage presence. The biggest example of this is that they finally seem to have gotten Bearface out of his shell. On previous tours, he would stand around in the shadows until it was his turn on the mic. This tour, though, he was trying his best to move around and match the energy of his peers. For me, this was a joy to see, especially since I consider him the most talented member of the group and stan him way too hard (to prove this statement, here’s a controversially titled video I posted about two years ago). As a fellow taurus with anxiety, it was truly empowering to see one break even slightly from the typical “I don’t care about anything” mold and have a bit of fun. Add this to the fact that BH are doing what you might consider some small choreography, and it seems like their chemistry is better than ever. 

However, I was curious as to how the members were going to approach the setlist, considering that they now have five full albums of great material. Nonetheless, they successfully struck a good balance of new songs and old. The only songs they played that I personally would have substituted for something else were “HONEY” off of iridescence (2018), and “BIG BOY” off of GINGER. But the thing with BH is that most of their deeper album cuts are disliked by some and liked by others. Unsurprisingly, many people around me were very clearly into these songs, and their inclusion thus didn’t take away from anything. 

The setlist did have some very clear highlights, though. Everyone in the place joined together to sing the quintessential BH chorus of “BLEACH.” Every tour, they seem to do something different with this song. This time, they had my favorite rendition of it so far, as they tacked on a medley of passages onto the end of the track, including a Bearface variation of the song’s hook, Kevin’s verse from “STAR,” and, strangely, the hook of Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice.” In the same vein, they performed “SUGAR,” which I consider the “BLEACH” of GINGER. The two songs even have the same feature on the hook, being Ryan Beatty, who they actually brought out for “SUGAR.” Like “BLEACH,” no one had a hard time singing along to this one, and BH killed it with the vocals. Aside from “BLEACH,” the group performed many other hits from the SAT trilogy. “I keep thinking about SATURATION,” Abstract said before performing songs like “GOLD” and “HOTTIE,” two songs with irresistibly catchy Kevin hooks. “BOOGIE” was as crazy as I’ve ever seen it, and “QUEER,” with its stark juxtaposition of emotions and sonic passages, was also well-received. 

Although iridescence is widely considered their worst album, the group did not shy away from performing “DISTRICT” and “J’OUVERT,” two of their most explosive songs to date, especially with respect to Joba’s contributions. The crowd screaming along to Joba’s screams on those songs was great, especially since Joba added his “I’ll break your neck so you can watch your back” line from “HEAT” to the end of “J’OUVERT.” 

At one point in the set, the stage darkened, and when the light came back to us, the boys were sitting on a couch that mirrored their iconic couch logo. From this couch, they performed “GUMMY,” the opener of SAT II (2017), and “LOVE ME FOR LIFE” off of GINGER, as if to bridge the gap between then and now. They finished the night off with “NO HALO,” which is one of my favorites from the new material due mainly to its melancholy yet catchy and beautifully sung hook. The somber guitar-driven beat concluded the night well. There were no encores, but there didn’t need to be. We were more than satisfied, erupting in thunderous applause as the boys said their farewells. Multiple members tweeted later that we were the best stop on the tour so far. So, to Brockhampton, you’re welcome, and thank you. I’ll continue to attend every tour until the group’s end, so I’ll see you on the next one. 

Article and Photos by Anthony Vega