From visual art to the art of life, one comes to realize that it’s all just freestyle. André 3000’s performance at Luna Luna was a once in a lifetime experience. Starting with the venue, it alone could set the expectations for the night. The lively, colorful, and playful gallery with works by Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat gracing the space was open to guests before the show. Around 15 mins before 10p.m., the audience was let into the main hall. While waiting, enthusiasm about the upcoming experience was heard in every conversation. One individual even expressed her interest in seeing how André’s breath-work would flow throughout each of the pieces.
In an instant, all talking stopped and everyone’s energy was focused on the audio track of a woman seemingly singing in Hindustani. The track alone lasted 8 minutes, the perfect transition into the main act. It set the mood, calmed the room, and in a way, it reset the energies flowing from the audience members.
Without hesitation, the room turned black. Moments later, red lights emphasizing Basquiat’s ferris wheel ushered in André with the rest of the crew. Their entrance was tribal. As André played a small, high-pitched woodwind instrument, in a crouched posture, he uniformly led the crew on stage. While everyone was settling on their instruments, rustling leaves, brushed sounds, and whistles put the audience into a deeper trance as preparation for the night to come. Once everyone was in position, André crouched with lowly hung arms and fists to the ground on center stage. Then suddenly, he barked. It was his signal to his people to begin, and that’s when the flute playing commenced.
The start of the set had slower tempos, mello dynamics and amplitude of sound, and simple musical phrases. It gave the audience the chance to drink in André’s transformation over the past half decade. It was purely mesmerizing. In unison with the musicality, the lighting effects played a remarkable role in this experience. The two prominent effects enlivening the show were the laser beam hitting the glass of water and the wall of light backing the band. Each of these did a fantastic job mirroring the emotion from the music and reflecting it back to the audience. Not to mention, the lights never properly illuminated their faces. This created an environment allowing the audience to focus more on the music than the players.
Only about 30 minutes into the show did André stop playing to talk to the audience. He started off by thanking everyone for their thoughts, experiences, and any issues they brought with them because he and the band were using that energy to perform. At that moment, he revealed that until then, everything was freestyled. He proceeded to promise that while on stage everything the audience heard and experienced would be raw, original, and honest. He even encouraged the crowd to make noises, move, and do whatever they felt to join in on the process.
Going into the second-third of the show, the pace dramatically shifted through a range of moods. Some sporting aggression, while others doting a sensual tone. Throughout the set, André must have picked up at least 8 different instruments–each carrying their own significance. During André’s second audience discussion, he shared that he’d amassed 72 flutes over the years. Further explaining that he’d gained a reputation around town as the guy who’s good at playing flutes, but that was never his goal. It was more about following his passion and allowing life to take him in this direction.
At the end of the show, André had a moment where he spoke passionately into the mic about some meaningful sentiments. However, everything was unintelligible. He was speaking in a fake language…one that he made up. But whether it was real or fake, people in the audience listened and connected to it. Just like with his raps. And just like with his flute. André’s musical shift was simply a physical change in self-expression because it all comes from the same place.
Leave a Comment