My excitement for the show was reduced once I realized the opener, the talented and outspoken Chicago singer/rapper Noname, would not be appearing due to “personal reasons”.  But this malaise was short-lived because it would be announced an hour later that she would be replaced by the ever talented serpentwithfeet, an elusive singer best known for mixing his church trained gospel voice with his fluid sexuality and style.  

Before I stepped out for the concert, I had to stop by whatever the local watering hole was for an appropriate pregame before the concert, which ended up being Steel Mill in Bushwick. I instantly felt at home and was greeted warmly by the bartender who would ask why I was in town. I informed her I was here for the Toro y Moi show. “Toorooo y Muayyyy” she states when I tell her to look him up on Apple Music, to which she responds by kindly playing him on the bar’s speakers. While drinking my margarita outside I could not help but feel like the “unique” antics of the local residents felt like a weird synergy of the day.  Whether it was the woman in a suit with a foot long (not figurative)  joint in her mouth while directing her friend to teach her dog to do tricks or the twenty something year old riding a bike with a scarecrow mask on, ahhh the synergy.

Once I made my way to the venue, I couldn’t believe how beautiful the sunset was. It looked like it was man made for a corporate ad campaign for hipster photographers in Brooklyn. The venue itself was pretty massive.  An example of its scale: I walked into an indoor room thinking that that room was the venue –  there were about two hundred plush chairs and a stage with trippy lights. Once I finally asked someone they stated it was just a lounge room and the real venue was a walk down a straight corridor. Once I entered there, I was engulfed by the enigmatic crowd of around 5000 people. They were cascaded from the general admission floor all the way to a 3rd level that was eerily similar to Peach’s castle from Super Mario. But as I panned my view I could not help but be happy for Toro. He has worked his way from shows of 200 people for years and now to break through to this large of a turnout was awe inspiring. But before Toro was to bless us with his presence, there would be the mysterious serpentwithfeet.

It is really weird, I honestly did not see serpentwithfeet step onto the stage – it seemed like he just appeared out of the smoke like a sorcerer but if the sorcerer’s coat was Pyer Moss.  The last second nature of his addition to the concert’s bill meant that the only thing on the stage was him, his DJ and his keyboard. But that’s all he needed. His singing was vulnerable but strong, mostly performing cuts from mostly from his second album. But one of the best parts from his set was his ability to effortlessly serenade and adjust the cadence of his lyrics to other artists’ beats, akin to Lil Wayne on Da Drought 3. The crowd would give him a rousing applause at the end of his set.

After serpentwithfeet, twenty minutes later a band would emerge from the backdrop and then the crowd collectively gasped and got raucous thinking that it was the stage crew but it was actually Toro y Moi and his band.  Adorned in an all denim outfit with cowboy boots, I could not believe the chameleon- like changes that Toro has gone through throughout his career. There was the “Rose Quartz” period,  the “Boo Boo” era  and now the Mahal age.  It’s weird, with his new album, Mahal, at first listen I liked it but didn’t love it. I was still in the futuristic bubble that was his last album, Outer Peace.  But eventually, I got to a point that I could not stop listening to it and I started to appreciate all of the tiny nuances of the album like the crackling radio sounds. What I loved about this concert was that I was able to share these auditory moments with the rest of the crowd in real time while Toro was performing.  For example, the last 15 seconds of “Magazine” or the verse on “The Loop” at the 1:10 mark had everyone in my section singing the entire verse. This type of emotional feeling that cannot be recreated while you are listening to your airpods by yourself.

Toro would first take us back with nostalgic hits such as “So Many Details” and “Freelance” which immediately drew the audience in from the onset of the first chords played on stage.  Speaking of playing instruments, it seems like Toro is coming for the best of this era’s guitarists with the superior guitar work he was doing on Mahal, but also while live as well. He was weaving in and out of the chords with ease and even taking some songs to different places musically, which is great to see from your favorite artist.. 

When I first saw Toro y Moi in a photograph, he was quiet and frankly music looking nerd that was a genius. But now to see him in all of his denim glory performing and dancing like a drunken uncle at the family bbq, very confident and carefree, at his biggest headlined show to date brought a Brian’s Song tear to my face.   

As I headed back to Flatbush, I stopped at the aforementioned Steel Mill, where the bartender allowed me to take my hibiscus cocktail to-go. On the walk back home I couldn’t help but think about all of my memories that Toro’s music had been a part of.  The wins, the losses, the loves, but most important the changes.  And if my trajectory is any similar to Toro’s, the changes are just part of a bigger evolution.