- josh bis
I woke up this morning at 8:12 am after the Central Washington sun turned my tent into a nylon oven. I grabbed a camping chair and sat down in the patch of shade from its cast shadow, and just thought about OutKastâs mainstage closing set last night.
- josh bis
How was that real? My longtime fandom aside, Big Boi and Andre 3000 put on a straight-up legendary show. 3 Stacks rocked a white wig and shades, and a black jumpsuit with âeverything is temporary.â (!!!) emblazoned across the front in Helvetica with a giant price tag hanging off one hip, reading âSOLD OUTâ on one side, âFOR SALEâ on the other. Big Boi had a Chicago Bulls hat and huge gold rope chain and medallion on to complement his more traditional black shirt/camo pants/Jordans getup. They emerged from a cube with the black and white stars and stripes from the Stankonia cover glowing across all sides (LOOK AT THAT FUCKING PICTURE WOW GREAT SHOT JOSH), Andre standing atop a chair, one arm raised upwards in salute, Big Boi sitting hunched over on another, with a simple table between them (Andre would later talk about the duoâs beginnings, sitting around a kitchen table and rapping over A Tribe Called Quest instrumentals played from a boombox). The opening combination of Stankonia cuts âB.O.B.â into âGasoline Dreamsâ set it the fuck offâespecially with a live backing band. After that start, and with their extensive catalog of American classics, OutKast was the definition of âunfuckwithable.â
- josh bis
The setlist did play it fairly safe, sticking to their singlesâthey also did âMs. Jacksonâ and âSo Fresh So Cleanâ off Stankonia, âATLiensâ and âElevatorsâ from ATLiens, and the title track, âPlayerâs Ball,â âCrumblinâ Erbâ and âHootie Hooâ from Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, but Aquemini edged all the other albums out with âRosa Parks,â âSkew It on the Bar-B,â âDa Art Of Storytellin (Part 1),â that title track, and âSpottiottiedopaliscious.â Bringing out Sleepy Brown to sing his parts was an added bonus, his purple robe looking as silky as his voice sounded.
The performance of âAqueminiâ was particularly sublimeâBig Boi and Andre rejoined inside the cube, which was now illuminated with wavy aquatic (eyyyy) patterns, assuring us ânothing is fa sho, nothin' is for certain, nothin' lasts forever, but until they close the curtain.. itâs him and I, Aquemini.â With the completely dark, cavernous Gorge behind them and the Big Dipper right overhead the crowd, it gave me chills. Everything is temporaryâmusic careers, festivals, relationships, humans, the fucking Earth. Even the sun goes down, heroes eventually die.
Additional highlights included Andreâs generally goofy demeanor and banter, short solo sets from each member, and a performance of UGKâs âInternational Playerâs Anthemâ that made everything complete. No hyperbole, but I feel like a more complete person after that set, like I checked something off my life to-do list, like Iâm âvibrating higher.â And with this kind of 20-year reunion tour, Outkast is cementing themselves as one of the greatest music groups of this, or any era.
- josh bis
- josh bis