FLYING LOTUS LIVE AT BROOKLYN STEEL, BROOKLYN, NOVEMBER 6, 2017: CONCERT REVIEW

A Mind-Bending 3D Experience That Turned Electronic Music Into Sci-Fi Entertainment

(Updated from an article originally posted on tripmuze.com on December 27, 2017)

3D concert…That caught my interest when my friend told me about the concert of electronic music front-runner Flying Lotus in Brooklyn. I hadn’t heard about the 3D concert by any musicians before. Even when I searched on Google, there were a few 3D films that featured concerts, such as Jonas Brothers, U2, Phish, and Kraftwerk, but I didn’t find the concert itself with live 3D. How would Flying Lotus merge 3D with his concert and electronic music? I was curious about his innovation.

The stage was far from innovation when my friend and I arrived. In the center of the stage, there was a strange-shaped, big, rugged, brown…well, what was it? Tree? 3D equipment? That was it.

“I hope that’s not Kuso,” I said to my friend about his directorial debut movie and meant “shit” in Japanese (answer: that was FlyLo’s booth). There was a big screen on the back, which was only a hint of the 3D concert. No music instrumentals, no microphones. Only the equipment and a screen. Simple as that.

It was like kingdom come when a large “FLYING LOTUS” logo proudly shone on the screen as the appearance of himself after the first two boring supporting acts (Seven Davis Jr. and The Buttress) and one entertaining one (So-So Topic). The sold-out audience in NYC welcomed the advent of an adventurous musician from L.A. with big cheers.

The simple stage changed to a big collaborative entertainment of Flying Lotus’s music, visual arts, lights, and smoke. Not just the combination of music and 3D show. The 3D show that synced with music without a gap never stayed the same and was eye-catching. The world Flying Lotus brought the audience over 3D in the dark with his music was a science fiction, mechanical universe, mysterious future, and beautifully evanescent dream. Starting with a ritualistic theme, meeting with human faces and brains we left upon the departure to space, cyber conviction, eccentric carnival, falling down to the urban…the presentation planted inhumane imaginations in the audience. Unlike movies, the screen didn’t talk. And most of the songs didn’t have lyrics. 3D took the important role to cultivate the audience's imagination with FlyLo’s fountaining musical expression. And the high definition visuals bewitched us. That was super clear as fuck. The world over, 3D glasses were addictive. The 3D show successfully gave the electric music a new style of expression without a vocalist and musicians’ movement on the live performance…if money allowed (Sure, 3D would cost a lot of money. And electric musicians couldn’t move much from the booth, you know). Each time a scene changed on the screen, the large venue with 1,800 people was filled with excitement.

Musically, the concert emphasized more edges and grooves compared to jazz-influenced and eccentric recording materials. More underground and industrial than intellectual. And the concert rocked. Those changes made a dynamic chemistry with the large-scale 3D show and succeeded in catching the audience into the thrilling development of digital visuals over FlyLo’s digital music without being melancholic, the feeling sometimes given by his albums.

The set list enhanced the 3D show, as well as entertaining the audience. While the majority of the songs were electric music, he placed some of the hip-hop and vocal songs throughout the concert in balance. “The Killing Joke” from Captain Murphy’s Duality album, “Coronus, The Terminator” from the latest You’re Dead!, the collaboration with Anderson. Paak… there were a few moments bringing the audience back to reality from the fantasy and fueling the audience up with natural headbanging before being back to another illusion again.

Flying Lotus showed his power to make a large music hall in NYC sell out and even added a second show, though he might be a maniacal artist who was highly praised by many notable musicians. The concert, however, was not maniac in a good way. That was the concert everybody could enjoy, both his music and 3D show, and indeed, that was an entertainment. It will be exciting to see what new things Flying Lotus will do on his next tour.

One opinion. Flying Lotus should wear a better outfit matched with the 3D show. I don’t say wearing casual on the stage is a bad thing, and I don’t deny. But his outfit, which seemed like something bought at Forever 21 or H&M, wasn’t for a high-quality sci-fi 3D show. His outfits in promotional photos would at least match the purpose of his concert.

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OVERALL SCORE: 87/100

• Performance: ★★★★+1/4
• Excitement / Fire: ★★★★+1/2
• Vocal: ★★★★
• Instrumental (DJ): ★★★★+1/2
• Sound: ★★★★★
• Setlist: ★★★★
• Stage Setting / Lighting: ★★★
• Better Than the Recordings: ★★★★★
• Chemistry with the Audience: ★★★★★