It's been less than a year since André 3000 made his return to music with the stunning left-turn, career altering record New Blue Sun, which saw the hip-hop star trade bars for a foray in flutes as he dropped his ambient jazz collection of new tunes and shocked the music world. Since his retreat from the spotlight, the former flamboyant frontman has swapped his all-time classic status as one-half of the great hip-hop duo for the role of the leader of a pack of new age and environmental musicians who focus on the far out reaches of time and space. Entering the stage, the band situated themselves behind their various collection of instruments and began to follow 3000 as he took the reigns of the magical mystery tour that would follow. Brining elements of the rainforest through natural rhythms and vibrations, the group slowly began to build up their sound and would drift in and out of moods and melodies for quite some time as swirling lights danced behind them, at times illuminating André and at others allowing the shadows to add to the nuance of the evening. "We stepped out on stage tonight and had no idea what we were gonna play" 3 Stacks told the crowd after an extended jam opened up the evening as he explained the group's improvisational approach to their music and how they play what comes to them in the moment rather than the structured formats of most popular music. Witnessing them all on stage it felt more like an invitation into their secluded jam space where each of them could follow their own journey and let the grooves live and breathe with distinct direction. There was a serious vulnerability that came with the performance and as André continued to speak to the crowd he acknowledged how his time in OutKast has allowed him the freedom to explore these new sounds and musical paths and how this was never his intended plan, but he followed his truth which led him here. While his shows in February tended to follow the themes of his album, this show really felt much more exploratory and gave the sense that he and the band have grown much more comfortable in their playing together and can now travel through new dimensions and allow their talents to really wander. Inviting his opening act to join him onstage, André and Meshell Ndegeocello brought new vocal elements into the mix which allowed for new textures to enter the fold and break up the pure moods effect of the otherwise more celestial sounds. Taking the same role as the lyrical elements of the Cocteau Twins or Sigur Rós, the made-up language of 3000 and Ndegeocello gave way to a more playful nature of music and followed the ideas of the new track from the Red Hot compilation Transa. As the night continued to build and the band fell deeper into their intimate jam session, the keyboards picked up the groove and dialed in for one of the more transfixing moments of the set. To go from being one of the biggest names in the game to making some of the more avant-guard music of the time is quite the move and the humbleness of André proves he knows the risks he's taking might not have the same returns as his original style, but his desire to be true to himself and invite us all in to his most personal form of expression is still not something to miss.
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