Tonight, we had BROCKHAMPTON and doors were slated to open at 7pm with the show to begin at 8pm. The venue was The Fillmore Silver Spring. Thankfully whenever I go to a show there, I don’t have to worry about parking because if you park in a parking garage it is free after 9pm (and luckily most shows get out after that). I decided that I would get there a little after 8 just because I don’t really like standing around waiting (especially if I’ve worked that day). I arrived at around 8:30pm and noticed as I was walking to the venue that there wasn’t a line outside so I thought, “A lot of people must not be going to this show because there would be a long line as usual.” As I’m walking up I see a familiar face in the box office window (I used to work at the Fillmore Silver Spring) so once inside she came out and I chatted with her a bit (she said there are only 3 people still there that I knew).
It wasn’t until as I was talking to her that I spotted a sign that said that the show was sold out so I knew that there probably wasn’t a line because everyone was inside already. Once I fully stepped onto the floor I could tell it was packed as I looked around and was in the back by the sound people. I looked upstairs and it was full with people…a sold out show indeed.
Random Thought: Although I do my blog on a weekly basis and find out about these artists that way I’m surprised when I go to some of these shows and they’re sold out because I just didn’t realize that that many other people also like that artist. Most of the people I talk to are like, “Who is that?”
So I stand in the back and try to get situated and am trying to figure out how I’ll possibly be able to get good pictures when I’m so short and here are all these tall people in front of me. Not 5 mins after walking in did BROCKHAMPTON come out and even that surprised me because I thought there would’ve been an opening act but was glad that there wasn’t. No offense to opening acts (it’s how a lot of people get their start) but there are times (most times) where I just want to get right to it and hear the artist. So they come out and their stage setup was like that of a living room. The 2nd song that they sang was “QUEER” one of my favorites and I was down there jamming with the people. It was during that point as I was trying to catch pictures and a video that I realized I would need to find another spot. That and the fact that they seemed to be getting a little rowdy on the floor and I didn’t feel like getting into it with anyone. In the end I opted to go upstairs for in the past sometimes that was the better view.
I make my way upstairs on the general standing side of the area and wallah a better view. I was on the 2nd row from the front so not bad, in fact much better than the floor (and not as many people). I enjoyed the rest of the show from here and sang and danced to “JELLO” and “BLEACH” my other two favorites. Now they didn’t do all of their songs (they have two albums) but to me they did enough and most importantly they did all of my favorites which is a first. I usually don’t get to hear all of my favorites and sometimes have heard none of my favorites so my night was complete after I heard all of them. And actually after they sang BLEACH they did about 3-4 more songs and then the show was over. Of course no one moved because the lights were still off even though the “time to go home” music was playing no one moved…so they turned the lights on and everyone began leaving. One thing that I noticed, there were a lot of white people in the crowd (I mean they made up the majority) and if I’m not mistaken the group is majority black (not that any of this matters this was just an observation).
I also noticed during the night how much fun they were all having on the floor as I looked over from above. At one point I thought they were doing the wave but they all just pretty much moved and danced the same way that it seemed to flow. Then I saw a guy crowd surfing and tried to count how long he’d be able to manage before someone dropped him (he did pretty good). For BROCKHAMPTON to be a boy group they have a lot of members and I probably wouldn’t recognize them all if they were right in front of me before the show (still might not afterwards). They were very animated and hyped the crowd up. I didn’t realize their sound in some of the songs seemed to be EDM/hip-hop. If they can pull if off I would like to see them survive as a boy group because I think they did really well and I like them. This show was the best of the year so far.
The next show will be in February and that’s Brent Faiyaz.
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