You know youāre in for a good time when, after getting your ticket, ID and bag checked youāre suddenly handed a pair of 3D glasses.Ā Now, Iām not sure about the general concert-going world, but I have never seen a show in 3D, and on top of that, I have never seen a Flying Lotus show.Ā Recently, Iāve been listening to his work, and frankly, itās hella out there. However, that is 100{a43c2147d37bcf8b898f59ebaaf066dc60bd9fbfc7430ae40ed3f9adbaab469e} the appeal of Flying Lotus, youāre going on a journey, whether youāre ready or not.
Steven Ellison, better known by his stage name, Flying Lotus, is a multi-genre music producer, musician, DJ, filmmaker & rapper from LA. Basically, he does it all. His recent claim to fame included scoring Blade Runner 2022 (an excellent short film) his most recent album āYouāre Dead!ā and his incredibly disturbing and polarizing directorial debut in the surreal horror film āKuso.ā Seriously, check it out, just not before bedtime, ever. Ever. I made that mistake. Currently, he is on his āFlying Lotus in 3Dā tour, and as the name states, itās something that really hasnāt been done before in the concert world, a 3D concert.
As stated in multiple interviews around the music scene, Flying Lotus was looking to provide a show that really only can be experienced through your eyes, and while the visuals did look absolutely strange and awesome through my camera viewfinder, the show really transcended your typical concert once the glasses were on. Distorted human faces snaked around the screen leaving jagged trails in their wake. A skull with wings flopped around the screen, but it seemed like it was attached to a spring rather than flying freely. In some parts of the show, a star destroyer-like ship shimmered and rotated, while the music one would play while hot boxing your spaceship resonated through First Ave. All this centered around Flying Lotusā DJ podium, which was an asteroid with tentacles, at least, I think it was. It perplexed me for, at the very least, the first quarter of the show.
The music to accompany the visuals was free-flowing. It rarely stayed in one place for very long, seamlessly transitioning from song to song and theme to theme. One minute you were listening to something you might hear at stadium EDM show, and within a minute you were listening to a track suited for a jazz/funk club (in space, though.) The crowd got to hear snippets of Ā āDo The Astral Planeā & āZodiac Shitā and FlyLo even transitioned into his rap alter-ego Captain Murphy to perform his more rap heavy songs, including āNever Catch Meā with features the one and only Kendrick Lamar.
Full disclosure, this was my first time at a Flying Lotus show, and the journey was over before I knew it. However, that hour was an absolute trip. Ā The show was like Interstellar & 2001: A Space Odyssey time travel scene crammed into a concert. Ā The music spanned every genre you could feasibly cover in an electronic show. The visuals were something out of a sci-fi, horror and Discovery channel made for TV documentary all at the same time. And, it was all in 3D, something that really pushed the show into territory Iāve never seen.For the uninitiated, Flying Lotus can be a kick to the head; almost everything about the show stretched the conventions of a concert. If someone wanted a mellow, musically & visually safe concert, it never came. However, if youāre really looking for an incredibly unique (and just plain weird) concert experience, I canāt think of anyone more suited for the job than Flying Lotus.
For the uninitiated, Flying Lotus can be kick to the head; almost everything about the show stretched the conventions of a concert. If someone wanted a mellow, musically & visually safe concert, it never came. However, if youāre really looking for an incredibly unique (and just plain weird) concert experience, I canāt think of anyone more suited for the job than Flying Lotus.
