BROCKHAMPTON celebrates album release with pop-up concert
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
BROCKHAMPTON sits outside their home in south central in LA.
With a large group of boys who express different personalities and have such a diverse background from one another, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact musical influence and genre that BROCKHAMPTON has.
They are unique, fresh and ahead of their time.
“The best boy band since One Direction” as they call themselves, released their sixth album, GINGER on Aug. 23.
To celebrate the release of their most anticipated album yet, BROCKHAMPTON hosted Friday Therapy, a free event for their fans in Los Angeles on the same night as their album release.
Everything BROCKHAMPTON does is done spontaneously yet successfully.
The boyband announced this free event on short notice — a week prior to the show.
Even though they gave out the location the night before the event, thousands of BROCKHAMPTON supporters still showed up not knowing what to expect but undeterred all the same.
Fans showed up as soon as the address was dropped, camped outside the Fonda Theatre overnight and waited in the beaming sun to see their favorite boy band.
A group of UCR students arrived around 9:20 a.m. One of the students, Matthew Sunga, explained, “By the time we got to the front of the line there was only 10 tickets left. If you got there past 9:30 you probably wouldn’t get in.”
Once the doors opened at 7 p.m., all hysteria broke loose and entered the atmosphere.
The hip-hop collective gave an outlet for upcoming artists Dominic Fike and JPEGMAFIA by having him open up the event with their indie R&B and experimental hip-hop tracks.
After their sets, BROCKHAMPTON kicked off their show with their latest single
“NO HALO.”
Although “NO HALO” had only been released the day before the Friday Therapy event, their fans were already screaming the lyrics back to them.
The next song they performed was “SUGAR” featuring Ryan Beatty.
“SUGAR” is a slowed down, heartfelt track, yet the crowd went crazy for it — jumping, dancing and moshing throughout the venue.
Based on the crowd’s reaction, “SUGAR” is evidently one of the most defining tracks off the album.
“People who have never heard of BROCKHAMPTON automatically love ‘SUGAR,’” Sunga raved, “It’s a testament of how much they’ve grown as artists.”
The artists continued to perform the remaining songs from GINGER.
“We’re gonna need all your energy!” said BROCKHAMPTON member, Merlyn, from the stage.
The first few beats of “QUEER” began to play and the crowd immediately roared with excitement.
The group ended their celebration with songs from their trilogy of SATURATION al- bums.
The prominent trumpet in “BOOGIE” and the title track had its listeners ready to party. It was the perfect song for BROCKHAMPTON to end with, leaving everyone in a frenzy.
The chaotic hype that the BROCKHAMPTON culture has is unexplainable.
They are changing the way people view, listen and make music with every project they release.