K-OS at Club Soda 10-12-11

K-OS got MTL in a B-boy/Rock stance

This last saturday night, Canadian eclectic hip-hop artist K-OS graced Club Soda’s stage as a conclusion to his Canadian tour. An artist who has evolved with his love-hate relationship with the hip-hop music industry, stepped in balanced and fully embracing his musical eccleticism. He thus signs the end of his Canadian tour, dedicated to his “classics” in Montreal..

The genesis of the show opens in full force with classic vintage hip-hop infused “Electrik Heat – The seek will” from his 3rd album “Atlantis – Hymns for Disco”, quickly fusing  tom “Zambony” where the crowd, more engaging, sings along the “All around the world” chorus, rocked by its clerical background sound.

The very few interaction with the crowd, sometimes feeling closed to forced could be translated to nonchalance, but one could easily give him the benefit of the doubt, relying on the “we’re here for the music” stance as an audience member. Quickly, we came accustomed to that vibe as K-OS was undoubtedly immersed in his music

Next, “Astronaut” followed by “Fantastique” which opened with a Daft Punk’s TRON Legacy soundrack remnant sound. The instrumentation is irreproachably solid. The crowd then heats up singing along over radio-friendly “Crabbuckit” where the artist goes on a journey through styles manoeuvering country, smooth jazz, hip hop and hard rock. The journey continues with “Crucial”, which was a true hit that night according to the positive post-performance uproar, I believe due to him adding Sting’s “Roxanne” to the mix. Comes after “Superstar” and “Cat Diesel” on which he beatboxed, followed by upbeat “Valhalla” where his band wowed with their vocal and harmony skills.

At about 3/4 in the show, he presents his band then straight to popular track “Sunday Morning”. The percussions reels in the staccato of the drums and guitar strums, making the crowd jump. At this point, it was irrefutable that the crowd was not ready for “Sunday, bloody Sunday” to come. They’d stay for more K-Os.

He smooths down the vibe with “Heaven Only Knows” where he concludes it freestyling, trying to insert Montreal-related elements as best he could. The crowd couldn’t be happier, though he furthered up with crowd-pleaser “I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman” and “Man I used to be” where he sampled the popular lyrics of Pink Floyd’s “Education”. A refreshment pause for the band served as the pre-encore. K-Os comes back to conclude the show with two tracks, the last being “Dirty Water” which ends with a bang. At the stroke of midnight was heard the show’s last drumbeat. The band leaves. No chaos.

We waited hopeful to see more, but alas… This was its conclusion.

The K-OS reverence.