Azealia Banks’ “212” Stage-Rush

Azealia Banks’ “212” Stage-Rush

Azealia Banks’ festival set is an impressive thing, tough and melodically generous and capable of inciting some really good dancing in the crowd. I was enjoying it, but then she started up with her Ariel Pink collab “Nude Beach A Go-Go,” and my legs just started walking in the opposite direction. I didn’t think about doing it; I just did it. That song is bad enough that it forced me to vacate the premises, like it was an involuntary reflex. That meant, though, that when Banks stopped that malarky and pulled out her big hit “212,” I got to see all the people who said “holy shit, that’s my song” and rushed over to the stage. That’s one of the great things to see at festivals: People hearing a song they love and then go barreling in the general direction of that song. (I rushed right back, too, because of course I did.)