On Thursday night, RJD2 lit up the stage doing what he does best: simple, classic hip hop and soulful beats.
The concert, which was rescheduled after RJD2 was snowed in in January, was well worth the wait. Seamoose, Eliquate and DJ El Conductor set the preface and good vibes for the night.
Not much of a new name to the Davis community, Seamoose ramped up the energy with funky melodies, channeling a little bit of rock and soul. They played some of their familiar tunes such as “Pirates” and “Gimme Gimme.” You can never go wrong with the sounds of trumpets, sax and plentiful percussion, right? Right.
Eliquate, a hip hop group from Santa Cruz, brought more of the pounding force of lyrical rhymes and rap onto the stage. It wasn’t hard for the crowd to get a feel for the songs as lead singer and MC Elliot Wright jumped into the audience to get a more personal feel of the fans.
DJ El Conductor continued the high-energy atmosphere in between sets and during the course of the night.
Finally, RJD2. With a simple stage set-up of two projectors on each side and a few small laser lighting displays, RJD2 let the music speak for itself. As opposed to many concerts where people push aggressively toward the front of the stage and pack themselves into a ball of a sweaty-gross mess, everyone was relaxed and just ready to let the music embrace them.
The projector looped intriguing images that were perfect visual aids to RJD2’s instrumentals. A few close-up screenshots of RJD2’s skilled working with his beat-maker and equipment was impressive.
One of the best moments of the night was when RJD2 stated with a great deal of humility, “This is one of the most welcoming crowds I’ve had in a while.”
It will be at least another week before the catchy and addicting beat of “Ghostwriter” stops humming in my head.
UYEN CAO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.
