After blowing the roof off the Criminal Records Stage at Shaky Knees last October, the much buzzed about London band, black midi, returned to Atlanta, this time at Variety Playhouse to a lively crowd ready to unleash on a Friday night.
Chicago-based, genre-bending, experimental artist, NNAMDI opened the show with the pit area at Variety Playhouse packed out from the opening notes with a crowd roaring to let loose. NNAMDI and band opened with a little bit of math rock that would do the headliners proud – and quickly stoked the flames of the crowd with a mosh pit starting right away. Not long in, there was already crowd surfing happening also. With NNAMDI calling this crowd the best one of the tour with black midi, and thanking them for the energy, he laughed as he was about to go into his chillest song that even included autotuned vocals, showing off the more experimental pop side of NNAMDI. Of course, that didn’t stop this crowd’s enthusiasm, as they continued to dance, clap, and mosh until NNAMDI’s set ended, a much needed break before black midi took the stage.
Coming out to Outkast’s “B.O.B.” blaring on the speakers, the crowd’s hype picked right back up as black midi hit the stage with “953” off their 2019 debut album Schlagenheim, when the London-based band first earned buzz as the new guitar rock band of our era. While their has been some personal changes since, black midi’s hype continued with their sophomore album, Cavalcade, released in 2021 via Rough Trade Records, and covers EP Cavalcovers, released this March.
It’s one thing to listen to black midi’s recorded music, it’s another to see it all live. With a five-piece band, black midi is wild led by the energy and hard drumming of Morgan Simpson and saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi dancing around and in your face hype, plus the switching vocals of bassist Cameron Picton and guitartist Geordie Greep, alongside keyboardist Seth Evans. The experimental noise rock band likes to have fun on stage and with their crowd, as they blazed through 16 songs from their first two albums and closed with “bmbmbm”, the band’s debut single. There was even a little douse of Bowie, as they went into a “Rebel Rebel” snippet during “John L”. Needless to say, this show was a sweaty good time with the crowd surfing and moshing going late into the night. black midi is a band you make a way to go see when they touring the States, they are that good.
Check out photos below from the black midi show at Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA on Friday, April 8th, all photos by Mike Gerry:
NNAMDI
BLACK MIDI
BLACK MIDI ONLINE:
WEBSITE // BANDCAMP // FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM // TWITTER
UPCOMING BLACK MIDI TOUR DATES:
Tue. April 12 – Vancouver, BC @ The Imperial
Wed. April 13 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Sat. April 16 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
Tue. April 19 – Berkeley, CA @ The UC Theatre
Sat. April 23 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
Thu. May 5 – Cologne, DE @ Gebaude 9
Fri. May 6 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord
Sun. May 8 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord
Tue. May 10 – Grenoble, FR @ La Bobine
Wed. May 11 – Milan, IT @ Santeria
Thu. May 12 – Zurich, CH @ Mascotte
Sat. May 14 – Vienna, AT @ Flex
Sun. May 15 – Prague, CZ @ Meetfactory
Mon. May 16 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Wed. May 18 – Lille, DR @ Aeronef
Tue. May 31 – Istanbul, TR @ Zorlu PSM Jazz Festival
Thu. June 2 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Thu. June 9 – Porto, PT @ Primavera Sound
Sat. June 11 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifeld Derby
Sun. June 12 – Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret
Fri. June 17 – Sun. June 19 – Vilnius, LT @ 8 Festival
Wed. June 22 – Sun. June 26 – Somerset, UK @ Glastonbury Festival
Wed. June 29 – Sun. July 3 – Budapest, HU @ Kolorado Festival
Thu. June 30 – Bucharest, RO @ Club Control
Fri. July 1 – Sun. July 3 – Plovdiv, BG @ Wrong Fest
Thu. July 7 – Sat. July 9 – Trencin, SK @ Pohoda
Wed. July 13 – London, UK @ Summer Series at Somerset House
Wed. July 13 – Sun. July 17 – Dour, BE @ Dour Festival
Thu. Sept. 1 – Sun. Sept. 4 – Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival
