Every so often I will be posting under the ‘Derailed’ heading. This is for posts that are outside my normal comfort area…indie rock/pop.
Last night P.O.S and ‘special guests’ brought their punk-influenced form of hip-hop to Denver’s Marquis Theatre.
We missed Denver’s own The Pirate Signal, but got there in time to catch most of Dessa‘s set. Dessa, along with P.O.S, is part of the Doomtree collective out of Minneapolis. She reminds me of a soulful hip-hop version of Ani DiFranco. She was performing for a packed house and had everyone’s ‘hands in the air’! It seemed the crowd was really into her, even though I did hear a few people say ‘she’s good but I don’t know who she is’.
Colorado’s own Grieves was up next and by that time the show was sold-out and the house was rockin’. Grieves really played up his Ft. Collins roots, even though he now resides in Seattle. Most of the young crowd seemed to recognize most of his songs and they yelled out the lyrics at all the right times through the set. Grieves is a geeky-looking white boy who reminds me a lot of Slug from Atomosphere. He also had Budo onstage with him performing the DJ, guitar and trumpet duties. I heard his Daytrotter session last year and was looking forward to his performance, but he was much better than expected. This kid should go far in the underground rap scene.
P.O.S took no time taking the stage after Grieves’ set and he brought it! I have to admit, Grieves was a tough act to follow, but P.O.S proved quickly he was up to the task. We were up at the stage and things got wild. The pit started pretty quickly. P.O.S shut it down quickly. In true Fugazi fashion he asked to the crowd to start pogoing instead. After warning one guy a few times, security finally kicked him out for swinging at people. The crowd stayed energized through the whole set, but there was no more violence after that one incident.
The best part of the show was that there was only one emcee on stage at a time (expect when Dessa joined P.O.S for one song). Artists really showcase their talent when they are up there with just a mic and their DJ. It’s so much better than going to see these old school guys like Snoop, Warren G, Too Short, etc who do 3 or 4 songs and leave the rest of the night up to their talentless protégés.
This show went way beyond my expectations and made for a great night!
