A few days before Thanksgiving, Julian Casablancas made his return to New York City with his latest group Julian Casablancas + The Voidz. They played Hammerstein Ballroom, in what was their first official New York show (the only previous ones were at Governors Ball and a secret show at Shea Stadium). They brought along Shabazz Palaces and Blood Orange, along for the ride, making it one of the more interesting bills of the year.
Dev Hynes’ project Blood Orange had an incredible year, with his finest moment coming this summer where he played a free show at Central Park. It was just Hynes on stage who used this chance to perform almost all new songs, which sounded great. He was later joined by his girlfriend, and collaborator, Samantha Urbani. They delivered a tender performance that makes me excited to see what they release together in the future.
I finally got my chance to see Shabazz Palaces live, after missing them at every other New York stop due to bad timing. They didn’t disappoint, sounding as outstanding live as they do on record. If you haven’t listened to their new record Lese Majesty, you’re missing out on one of the best hip-hop records of the year. Then again, it’s almost futuristic hip-hop, as in, no one else really sounds like they do. For this reason, them opening up for Julian made perfect sense, as he similarly challenged the boundaries of a genre with The Voidz this year.
Prior to this headlining performance, I caught Julian + The Voidz twice live. The first was a somewhat all over the place performance at SXSW (one of their first shows ever), and the next was a somewhat better but still shaky performance at Governors Ball. But I was especially excited for the performance after interviewing Julian a week prior to the show.
During that conversation I mentioned that I would be taking photos in the photo pit, and told him he couldn’t miss me, as I’m rather tall and would be wearing a Yankees cap. Julian, being the diehard Mets fan that he is, jokingly told me that he would have to knock it off my head. Now I joked about it after the interview, but I didn’t think he would actually remember that, let alone act upon it at the show. Yet as I was shooting during the opening performance of “Xerox,” Julian suddenly ran towards me, grabbed my hat, and slung it at the giant Tyranny backdrop that hung behind the stage. He returned it at the end of the next song, “Father Electricity,” and said “I warned you” into the mic, upon handing it to me. After six years of running the blog, that was easily the coolest thing that I have ever experienced. The fact that he went out of his way to actually go through with that was pretty damn cool. I’ll never forget that..
That moment aside, Julian + The Voidz delivered their best performance yet. “Human Sadness” was an epic monster of dramatic proportions and left quite an impression. “Father Electricity” was performed with Shabazz Palaces, who added layers of soul to to the track. Then there was Julian performing a tender version of The Strokes’ “I’ll Try Anything Once,” before bringing out Dev Hynes to perform The Strokes’ “You Only Live Once” which was indeed as amazing as it sounds. He also did The Strokes’ “Ize Of The World” which got a massive singalong, and did “River Of Brakelights” from his first solo record.
It took me seeing The Voidz three times before they really clicked, and you can argue that the same method of repeat listening can be applied to Tyranny. If you disregarded it after a few listens, I recommend giving it another spin, and seeing how it goes down.
Setlist and photos of JC + The Voidz, Shabazz Palaces + Blood Orange are all below.
Setlist:
1. Xerox
2. Father Electricity (w/ Shabazz Palaces)
3. M.utually A.ssured D.estruction
4. Human Sadness
5. Where No Eagles Fly
6. Ize of the World (The Strokes)
7. Crunch Punch
8. River of Brakelights (Julian Casablancas)
9. Business Dog
10. Johan Von Bronx
11. I’ll Try Anything Once (The Strokes)
12. You Only Live Once (The Strokes) (w/ Blood Orange)
Encore:
13. Dare I Care
Julian Casablancas + The Voidz:
Shabazz Palaces:
Blood Orange:
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