Review by Rohan Mahadevan

Last night, Stephen Ellison a.k.a Flying Lotus took over 9:30 Club for a show that can only be summed up in one word: wow. Despite the 12:20 a.m. start time, 9:30 Club was electric as the Flying Lotus multimedia experience stimulated eyes, eardrums and feet. Ellison spent most of his set behind a screen while visuals moved to the music in front of him. However, when Fly-Lo was really feeling a track he would step in front of the crowd and speak.

The set consisted of a smattering from Flying Lotus’s discography as well as some special surprises. He played a new jam by his friend Earl Sweatshirt, as well as premiering a brand new Flying Lotus track. In between original tracks he inserted 3 (!) TNGHT tracks as well as a hyped up version of Kanye West and crew’s “Mercy” that made the crowd go wild. Ellison even kicked out some tracks from the Captain Murphy, his rap side-project, coming into the crowd for the final one.

For his encore, Flying Lotus brought out opener and Brainfeeder associate, Thundercat, to play “Bonus” from Thundercat’s forthcoming Apocalypse disc. Keeping the energy level high, he kept Thundercat onstage and ended with their collaborative track “MmmHmm” from Flying Lotus’ Cosmogramma album.