Big Boi, Travie McCoy, and Chiddy Bang at Congress Theater
When half of OutKast shows up anywhere, a crowd is to be expected. When Big Boi is on tour promoting a quality solo debut album (Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty) that’s full of collaborations with the likes of T.I., Too Short, Jamie Foxx, George Clinton, Janelle Monáe, and Yelawolf, a packed house is in order. Puzzlingly, Daddy Fat Sax and his bevy of opening acts drew a tiny crowd to Friday night’s show at Congress Theater and, even more perplexing, the performance justified the lack of attendance.
Many hours after the doors opened—and the mostly throwaway openers that Congress Theater books to fill time at seemingly every show were finished lulling the audience into frustrated exhaustion—Big Boi sprinted through a 45-minute set that was all but identical to his July performance at Pitchfork. There’s no denying his presence—his enthusiasm on the opener, OutKast’s “ATLiens,” made the evening almost worth the wait. However, it became clear early on that this night was more about reminding the petite crowd of his past and less about promoting what seems to be a very promising future as a solo artist. The majority of the set, as at Pitchfork, was a medley of OutKast classics in which Big Boi rapped his verses and let André 3000 sing the choruses via music videos on giant screens surrounding the DJ (also sadly missing was the full band backing Big Boi up during his July visit). Not only did this whittle seven or eight quintessential OutKast tracks down to less than 20 minutes, it also elucidated how much is missing when André Benjamin isn’t around for songs like “Rosa Parks,” “Elevators,” and “So Fresh, So Clean.”
The strangest part about this set list is that while everyone loves to hear ’90s OutKast anthems (and everyone did just 2 months ago), there is more than enough solid material on Sir Lucious to fill a set, particularly one so short. Although “General Patton” and “Follow Us” made a great introduction to Big Boi’s highly emphasized section of “new shit,” it was quickly abandoned for “Bombs Over Baghdad,” pointing right back to what was missing from the show—the other half of OutKast. His solo single, “Shutterbug,” was satisfying (although expected), but “Fo Yo Sorrows,” “Hustle Blood,” and other Sir Lucious standouts were left out altogether. Finally, Big Boi made a strong showing on Purple Ribbon All-Stars’ “Kryptonite,” then ended it abruptly and walked with an awkward mix of speed and swagger off the stage. The calls for an encore further made it clear how small the crowd was—the lights came up momentarily and the audience didn’t come close filling up the front section of Congress. Seemingly in light of this, Big Boi came back out for about 2 minutes of “You Ain’t No DJ,” dropped the mic, and left again, this time with about half the audience unconvincingly yelling, “Encore…?” Sadly, a set that worked for the packed crowd of Pitchfork (and was much aided by the brass section and full band missing from Friday’s show) was high on gusto, but left the crowd bearing witness to a seasoned hip-hop pro giving a “let’s get this over with” performance.
After too many hours of shoddy acts that included bad booty dancing, an even worse booty dance-off with awkward crowd participants, and some ambiguous Christian rock, Chiddy Bang provided a much-needed jolt of legitimacy for the show. The duo gave a convincing performance to the small crowd (including a guest appearance from Big Sean), although its shining moments came when none of its signature indie-sampling was in effect, and the drum kit and vocals were given full attention—the rest of the set, the live drums were virtually inaudible.
Gym Class Heroes’ Travie McCoy made for an odd time-filler between Chiddy Bang and Big Boi, and his time on stage included a lot of thumbs-upping, dramatic smiling, and occasional spirit fingers that made one wish the forgettable McCoy could simply be replaced with André.
