Joji’s Minneapolis Debut Sells Out The Armory

Minneapolis showed up to play on Wednesday night.

Lines wrapped around The Armory as fans shuffled in for Joji’s Minnesota debut. An impressive 8,000+ fans turned out for this YouTube comedian-turned-artist.

The older attendees that night, mostly Millennials, may know him as Filthy Frank or Pink Guy. Having seen just one fan clad in the hot pink bodysuit, I can only assume most people knew him as simply Joji.

The tone was set with two opening acts, first by Joji’s hype-man and drill rap extraordinaire, Savage Realm, who gave the crowd a taste of some 808’s mixed with jokes and gags as the show progressed.

Things slowed down when dhruv took the stage. With fan favorites like “Double Take” and “Moonlight,” the group shifted sounds with soulful tunes accompanied by live guitar and drums.

Joji hit the stage strong, opening with “Sanctuary,” followed by the crowd’s hands reaching high in the air for “Aiming for Heaven Above.”

Joji songs like “Will He” and “ATTENTION,” which are seriously sad, don’t seem fitting for concerts. Despite this fact, he put them across successfully, hyping the crowd and addressing his audience before each transition.

Their canned bits were amusing in a cheesy way, and rarely fell flat.

A few missed opportunities came in leaving “Daylight” and those heavy EDM inspired songs (“Fried Noodles Getter Remix”, “Glimpse of Us Colin Hennerz Remix)” out of the setlist. That being said, tons of free merch was launched into the crowd, which made up for the fact a bit.

The tracks picked for the Smithereens tour hint at Joji’s future direction, leaving behind cliches and continuing to play with emotions through one-of-a-kind beats and heavy lyrical content.

The single most surprising sight of the night was when Joji said goodnight, left the stage, and a handful of fans actually left the venue. Shortly after, a collective core-memory started to form through “SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK”  (live version, then original) being harmonized from wall to wall.

You can judge Minneapolis’ pipes for yourself in this clip.

The true send-off came with recent hit “Glimpse of Us,” again accompanied by singing and screaming fans.