#outkast

#outkastACL2014

@outkast

OUTKAST!!!!!!

If you know anyone that attended the festival this year, your social media was probably flooded with these hashtags and retweets about how mind-blowing this show was.  It was so highly-anticipated I feared it wouldn’t live up to the bar everyone from the previous weekend had set.  But at 8:15, they buried my fears.

Opening with Bombs Over Baghdad isn’t just the best way to open a show, it’s kind of the only way to open a show.  The slot was at 8:15 and the last glimpse of the sun was barely visible over the thousands of heads and the tops of trees.  I popped my cold beer and let the sounds of my middle school dance (anybody else???) transport me.

The outfits did not disappoint:  Andre 3000 was decked in a white wig to match his white-framed sunglasses and white spacesuit.  Big Boi was decked in what can only be described as an America-inspired cargo outfit.  They were flanked by two trumpeters, a full band, and various dancers for each song.

The show was so much more about the experience than the show.  Maybe that’s what all live shows are about, but there was something especially unique about this one.  Taking a time-capsule trip back to the time when you played “Ms. Jackson” a million times consecutively to try to memorize every word and inflection, breaking it down when you didn’t know exactly what breaking it down entailed.  Everyone was living in their own head, their own memories, but we danced the night away, shoulder to shoulder. 

#imsorryMsJackson

#iamforREAL