Outkast Reunion at Coachella
Big Boi and Andre 3000 reunited as Outkast after a very long period of time and performed at Coachella which was their first time performing together in many, many years since Andre 3000 took a hiatus to “do a little acting” and Big Boi continued to release music and maintain his producer status quo. But the Outkast reunion went very poorly.
We are Outkast nuts and always have been. But now there are some massive generational gaps that simply can’t be intertwined together and this flop of a performance only accentuated that point even further. Outkast performed very well even amid the lackluster crowd. They had to dig deep to find the energy and if you weren’t into the old school style, you were pretty much lost.
The Coachella festival is filled with mostly EDM (electronic dance music) artists that bring massive musical peaks and valleys, insane light shows, thumping electronic bass riffs, and lots of designer drugs. While there were stage tricks and techniques, Outkast is none of those things. They bring the 808’s, but it’s not the fuzzy thump that drives the crowd insane and Outkast was trapped delivering phenomenal music to a musically retarded audience. It’s an audience that wants to feel what’s happening, sweat and bounce, and has no penchant for original, good quality classic musicianship. They’ve been desensitized and simply want an experience.
So the true question remains, why did Outkast put itself in this situation in the first place? Wouldn’t have been a better idea to wrap them into a festival that surrounds them with like-minded artists that share the same music stylings instead of pairing themselves into a situation with acts that don’t share any commonality at all?
And it won’t be the last time since they’ve set themselves up for this again for an upcoming show at the Counterpoint Festival in Georgia playing alongside yet more unrelated bands such as STS9, Foster The People, Matt & Kim, Pretty Lights and a virtual laundry list of current underground radio jockey acts with barely a rapper among them.
Maybe the thought was to put them in a place where they stand out among the crowd, but it’s not panning out like the promoter envisioned. Or maybe the thought was that they felt as if everyone likes Outkast and their influence is felt across all music genres. A fact that may hold some truth if not for the fact that it’s failing miserably.
So what is the dream Outkast lineup? How about a festival featuring Outkast, The Roots, Big Boi (solo set), Andre 3000 (solo set), Janelle Monae, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Liv Warfield, Busta Rhymes, Yin Yang Twins, De La Soul, Little Dragon, and more in the realm of their audience? When you’re the only act that does what you do among a sea of other musicians that perform another type of music all similar to each other, but not to you, you’ve doomed yourself to a dull audience that doesn’t get you.
That being said, we hope this doesn’t take the wind out of the sails for Outkast. They need to perform to their people and not these “other folk”. We got nothing but mad love for Outkast here in the ATL and we hate to see them wrapped up in these bad situations. Outkast should expect a similar reception at Counterpoint. Their booking agent should be roasted over hot coals and then they should bring someone like us on board to put together the show to be talked about for generations to come. A funky hip hop Woodstock like no other. These merging of different worlds is not a good idea unless you have something to prop it up.
But for those that still want to know what they missed at Coachella, here’s the set list for you to drool over. It just makes us sad that it was wasted on EDM drones.
OutKast:
1. “B.O.B”
2. “Gasoline Dreams”
3. “ATLiens”
4. “Skew It On The Bar-B”
5. “Rosa Parks”
6. “Da Art Of Storytelling (Part 1)”
7. “Aquemini”
8. “Spottieottiedopaliscious” feat. Sleepy Brown
Big Boi:
9. “Bowtie” feat. Sleepy Brown
10. “Shutterbug”
11. “GhettoMusick”
12. “Tightrope”feat. Janelle Monae
13. “Kryptonite”
Andre 3000:
14. “Vibrate”
15. “She Lives In My Lap”
16. “Prototype”
17. “Behold A Lady”
18. “Roses”
Future:
19. “Same Damn Time”
20. “Ain’t No Way Around It”
21. “Benz Friendz (Whatchutola)” feat. Andre 3000
OutKast:
22. “Claimin True”
23. “Elevators”
24. “Ms. Jackson”
25. “So Fresh, So Clean”
26. “The Way You Move”
27. “Hey Ya”
