The fans of Hobo Johnson are DEDICATED. Pop-up downpours that flooded the street outside the venue and an overly warm and humid room did not dampen the spirits of this eclectic crowd. Normally there are specific “types” of people that come out to see musicians (elder emos at pop punk shows, horse girls for stadium country, etc) but Hobo Johnson’s audience spanned from stoners who couldn’t be trusted to drink out of cups without lids to hospital residents who got off their shifts and drove straight to Fountain Square.
I Hope You Fetishize…My Happiness
Drew Walker, a modern day Haight-Ashbury hippie if there ever was one, is pure fun and camp. His set flip-flopped between songs and spoken word, and he polled the crowd several times to see what topic they would prefer to hear about next. His content about sexual proclivities, the end of the world, and conspiracy theories on meditation were all delivered with the same level of earnest energy and it was easy to see that he lives for this. He was a delight to watch, and I wish his material was a bit more accessible as I would definitely love to revisit it (He does have Instagram and a BandCamp page, but there was one song that he had that was about nanobots and for the life of me I cannot figure it out what it is!)
And Damn…Maybe I Should Lick My Wounds Less Often
Nat Lefkoff arrived onstage with the most irreverent introduction I’ve ever heard—he referenced the types of gigs he has performed in the past and told us a wild story about spending an evening after a family friendly event he was booked for hanging out with the fun uncle of the group and subsequently ending up on a raucous party pontoon in the middle of Lake of the Ozarks (I will leave the story at that!) He is on the more soft-spoken side, so hearing his absolutely soulful voice just start belting out from the get-go was a bit jarring. I got over this quickly though and quickly began to enjoy and appreciate the dichotomy of his self-deprecating banter between his “really sad” songs—although he was quick to assure us that he is a generally a pretty happy guy and all his demons come out through his music. One of his most well-known songs is Damn, which he made explicitly clear to the crowd came out beforeKendrick Lamar’s (although he did confess to being a bit obsessed with Lamar and that if he ever got to meet him, that he’d “give him a little kiss”). I will definitely be seeking out more of his music.
You’re a Moth to the Flame and the Candle’s Out
Let me be clear and state that I really like the concept of what the Kaleidoscope Kid was going for; he essentially freestyle raps and plays electric guitar over prerecorded beats. But after viewing other live performances of his on YouTube, I think he was having a majorly off night. His set was not a train wreck by any means, but the audience participation was definitely lackluster and even just the timing seemed off, in terms of matching his musical pacing with the backing track. His YouTube channel showed a lot of acoustic performances as well, and I really enjoyed those; sadly his brief set here at Hi-Fi did not include any. He seemed to primarily play songs from his newest album and I did really enjoy “Bite the Bullet”, as it reminded me of older Machine Gun Kelly songs. His songs sound great recorded! But I think he definitely has the potential to be better live.
She Makes My Ruby Tuesdays Taste like Benihanas
The crowd was definitely starting to get antsy after all of the openers, but when Hobo Johnson took the stage, it definitely brought things back into perspective and the waiting was definitely worth it. Johnson (born Frank Lopes), is best known to the general population from his NPR Tiny Desk Contest entry, “Peach Scone”. I remember vividly the time in 2018 where this song first went viral and was being shared all over Facebook. “Peach Scone” was his closer for the evening and it involved some major crowd participation (tapping members of the audience to play the “easiest guitar riff in the world” as well as the drum machine only used on the chorus).
His official genre, for those unfamiliar, is a blend of emo rap-hip hop-spoken word (according to Wikipedia). Johnson performed a good variety of songs spanning his discography, including one from a yet-unreleased album. Crowd favorites like “Subaru Crosstrek XV” and “Mover Awayer” got the fans hyped up, but there were plenty of more sobering points as well, like during “Romeo and Juliet”, which is about falling out of love and families breaking up.
This show had some of the best crowd engagement I’ve seen in a while. I think a large part of that had to do with the fact that audience members could get right up to the stage (like the person he borrowed a baseball cap from when his headband slipped off and disappeared), but Johnson also interacted directly with people halfway across the venue as well, like the girl who was eating macarons—(side note, where the hell did she get those??) who subsequently windmill pitched it onstage and hit him in the face. You just don’t get banter like that at arena shows.
Seeing all of the fans so supportive and hype was really sweet, especially since Johnson was quick to call himself out if a musical mistake was made or the few times where he restarted a song when he didn’t feel like the first take was good enough. He was up there absolutely doing his best and it was very refreshing to see the vulnerable, perfectionist side of him as an artist.
I really need to put Hobo Johnson on more regular rotation on my Apple Music. Although his non-traditional style is not for everyone, there is just something about it that I click with and as long as he keeps making music, I will continue to listen.
The Good
- Found out about Nat Lefkoff, who I probably never would have come across if not for this show.
- Hobo Johnson’s audience banter and crowd participation during his closer, “Peach Scone”
The Not-As-Good
- The Kaleidoscope Kid’s live performance was definitely lacking in terms of cohesiveness and overall stage presence.
- I personally like to know exactly what I’m getting into with concerts and wished that it would have been disclosed beforehand that there were going to be three openers. I know this is just a personal preference, though.
The Lineup:
Hobo Johnson is Frank Lopes Jr.