Concert Review: Tyler, The Creator @ Sound Academy

By: Patrick Topping (@ptopp_ing) –

Tyler, the Creator, on the heels of his third album Wolf, brought the circus to Toronto’s Sound Academy last night.

Odd Future shows carry a palpable sense of unpredictability – early shows were noted for wild antics and even aggression towards their audience (the very audience lapping at their feet were just as likely to have shunned them under a different light). Since then, the production is a well-oiled machine, pitching a balance between perceived-tumult and order (the show has a hard stop at 10pm, presumably acknowledging their target demographic’s curfew). The crowd was predominantly 16 to 19-years-old skateboarder dudes donning baseball-caps with rims flipped upwards and spotted, striped, and graphic-Tees with Odd Future and WolfGang logos. The energy grew unsettled as the crowd amassed at the front of the stage, tensions peaking early as front-of-house security already having to lift a handful of exhausted, dehydrated kids from the centre of the swampy pit.

The Los Angeles-based teenage hip-hop collective Odd Future first reached national media attention through a 2011 televised bombastic performance by ringleader Tyler, the Creator. Their reputation for outrageously virulent lyrics, which the media amplified, but the heights that Tyler, the Creator’s guttural voice can stack violent metaphors like a freeway car-pileup matches up with his ability to delve into unabashed depths of self-deprecation, anxiety, and contradiction, never self-pity. Contrary to the prototypical hip-hop collective as ‘us versus them’, Odd Future’s WolfGang banner is ‘us versus the world’, a group of oddball teenagers seeking refuge from pervasive fears of abandonment and social rejection by deriving humour in the taboos of ‘grown up’ society. It’s not a new message, it’s the new punk. And similarly, it’s a banner for thousands in the unsettled, isolationist ‘Me, Me, Me’ generation.

The lights darken at 8:40pm as the slender backing DJ Odd Taco darted to the front wings of the stage whirring the crowd into a sing-along frenzy to hip-hop crowd-favourites including Schoolboy Q’s “Hands on the Wheel”and the intro to Kendrick Lamar’s “m.A.A.d. City”, which segued swiftly into Kanye West’s “New Slaves”. Just before 9pm, Tyler lankily sauntered to the stage with a jovial grin, as he cooled the room with his relaxed, languid demeanour. Flanked by stoutly Odd Future-mate Jasper, the stage became their living room as stage banter that consisted of the trio hinting at in-jokes, interacting with fan-art, and receiving gifts from his audience (including Black Flag*, Amy Winehouse, and M.I.A. vinyl LP’s, all received graciously). But as soon as a song clicked in, Tyler burst into his high-energy performance and the room was frenetic.

The catalyst for the evening was mercurial Odd Future Tapes song “Sam (Is Dead)”, after which Tyler changed from pants to shorts. Tyler’s recent musical output on Wolf is possibly his most progressive work, reflected in the decision to front-load the set with newer songs like “Bimmer”, “Jamba”, and “Cowboy”, leading to the evening’s “lighters & cellphones above heads” moment on the contemplative break-up track “IFHY”. The most eruptive moments came through on Goblin tracks “Sandwitches” and “Yonkers”, and Odd Future material “VCR” and “French”, the latter being a very unexpected singalong as the cursory refrain of “pardon my French” hardly covers the debasing and unsubtle lyrical metaphors. Following Wolf track “48”, Tyler took a few minutes to take “selfies” using audience members phones, one kid even threw his phone on-stage from the centre of the pit. The show was perfectly timed on its hard-ending at 10pm, but Tyler proved himself the consummate performer without relying on schtick or antics to create a thrilling experience for his indoctrinated followers.

*Overheard in the audience: “What’s Black Flag?”