Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus

The crowd at Flying Lotus’ set was as diverse as you would expect it to be, and the Gotham stage’s tent was so packed that people spilled out onto the surrounding lawn to dance. I’ve always liked watching FlyLo perform, because he doesn’t play the hits. Sure, he brings out his own work, but he always rearranges bits and pieces of it to suit a live setting. Some of his arrangements, especially on Until The Quiet Comes, are straight-up experimental, hard to vibe to in a festival setting without a few tweaks. FlyLo wore a mask while standing on an elevated stage, covered by a screen designed to make him look enormous alongside psychedelic projections. Out of all of the pulsing combinations of sound and color that emanated from the stage, a pitch-shifted, sped-up chorus of “Know Yourself” was a stand-out moment. That, and what I think was “Catch Me,” FlyLo’s collaboration with Kendrick Lamar. It’s hard to pinpoint every piece of inspiration that FlyLo pulls out during his sets, and its impossible to write about them without taking the audience’s reaction into consideration. I love to people watch, and this hour-long show was a prime example of how down people can get when they don’t give two shits if anyone’s watching. –Gabriela