NxWorries Live at The Observatory, Santa Ana

Despite it being an Anderson .Paak side project, the room was still more packed than expected, with the mass of The Observatory being nearly full to burst from the pit to the bar. Luckily, this venue has seen its fair share of legends pass across its stage so one up and coming artist was no challenge. It never felt full nor overwhelming in the dimly lot room, the cascading blue lights concealing the true madness that termed across the wooden floors. Yet for every accolade The Observatory warranted on this night, NxWorries matched and outmatched it in every capacity.

Knxwledge came out briefly to “turn on (his) devices” and ask for an ashtray, much to the delight of the audience, while the silky smooth melodies of D’Angelo and other R&B legends emanated through the building in tandem with the scent of smoke. He then proceeded to play a few hip-hop and R&B classics until Anderson .Paak joined him onstage and the concert began in earnest. When he literally launched onstage with album opener “Livvin,” the crowd went insane. It was at this point that .Paak proclaimed “Fuck it, we’ll play the whole album straight, it’s all good!” Much to the joy of the crowd, NxWorries made good on that promise by playing nearly the whole record straight through barring intros and intermission tracks.

Knxwledge himself was rather silent during much of the show, content to puff on his joint and occasionally throw comical jab at .Paak when he would jump in on a song too eagerly. One of the standouts of the show was the song “Kutless” where the whole crowd lit up, loudly singing each lyric of the buttery smooth track. Other standouts included “Link Up,” where he brought audience members onstage to dance with him, and closer “Starlite” which ended the night on a joyful note. Throughout the whole show, Anderson .Paak seemed positively giddy to be performing his NxWorries tracks, and the audience reciprocated his energy in full.