Trey Razeldazl of Austin art rock collective J'cuuzi told us about their Andre 3000 experience.
Trey Razeldazl: I’m from Atlanta but somehow it took me moving to Austin to finally see Andre 3000 live. We caught him at ACL Live on the New Blue Sun tour a few years ago.
The first 15 minutes of that show I kept asking myself whether or not I had taken any mushrooms beforehand (I had not). I will never forget the silence in that huge room when the first piece ended— you could hear everyone holding their breath until it finally erupted in applause, after which Andre blew our collective mind with the revelation that the entire set had been and would be a full band improvisation. It may be vague and pretentious to say this but the playing of each musician on stage was truly truly tasteful.
Two of the most unique parts of the experience I remember are the sound of the drummer’s playing palm fronds in his overheads panning around the venue, and a simple but slowly evolving light installation of a single white beam illuminating a glass of water at the front of the stage. The show was so perfect that I didn’t even get upset there was nary even a hint of an Outkast reference.
J'cuuzi's double EP Recession Indicator is out now.
Photo credit: Greer James
