Photo by Ray Ermel Photography
by Kyle Taylor
This past Tuesday- October 14th- west coast beat mastermind Flying Lotus made his second appearance in Philadelphia. After selling out Union Transfer in the spring of 2013, Steve Ellison (aka Flying Lotus) took the stage at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA.
As opening act Thundercat took the stage, the theater floor quickly filled with eager listeners. Thundercat’s smooth, experimental jazz style was the perfect performance to get the crowd ready for Flying Lotus. Although Thundercat performed on the spring 2013 Flying Lotus show as well, both artists had plenty of new original material to bring to their sets.
After a short set break, Flying Lotus took the stage, a bundle of pent up energy. Over the next hour and a half, Ellison released all that energy on stage. The California musician’s set took the audience through a massively eclectic assortment of material. The set managed to meld together all aspects of Flying Lotus’ career, incorporating old material (and of course classic tracks), plenty from his newest record- “You’re Dead!”, and a few selections of tracks from other Brainfeeder artists. Flying Lotus’ hip-hop alter ego, Captain Murphy, even made an appearance for a few songs.
The lighting for the evening is certainly worth mentioning. Utilizing the same concept as Flying Lotus’ last tour, the stage setup placed two projection surfaces on stage, one behind Ellison and one in front. For his show at Union Transfer, both projection surfaces were flat walls; however, on his current tour, the front projection screen mimics an inverted 3D cube, extending itself toward the audience. With a diverse and artistically rich compilation of visualizers, the surfaces worked to create 3D environments that appeared to entirely engulf Flying Lotus in the DJ booth (you can see photos below).
Flying Lotus – Website // Soundcloud // Facebook // Twitter
Thundercat – Facebook // Twitter
All photos by Ray Ermel Photography
Funkadelphia 