TOUR: GRiZ is Taking The Country to the Imaginarium One Last Time
NASHVILLE: 10/03/19
EDM’s most recent breakout artist GRiZ (G) recently went on record stating that his current tour, Ride Waves Season 2, will likely be his last true cross-country tour. We were able to drop in on the Nashville stop, and now we have to tell you why you MUST get out to one of the remaining stops on this tour.
Let’s Get this Party Started
Some stops will vary slightly, but the main opener for the whole tour is The Funk Hunters. This DJ duo mixes some of the most amazing tunes I’ve ever heard live. With a heavy influence from old-school funk and hip hop, this group was absolutely jaw-dropping. In Nashville they interlaced amazing beats with the music of Gorillaz, and it was the dance tune I never knew I needed so badly.
Even DJs need some backup.
Following this up was the main event, the G man himself, along with a string of collaborators including Muzzy Bear (guitar/vocals), Prob Cause (hip hop vocal), and Chrishira Perrier (soul vocal), with a small ensemble of other horns players whom we couldn’t find attributions for. Let us not of course forget the man himself, GRiZ, also known as Grant Kwiecinski on the mixers, saxophone, and some vocals.
If ya don’t know, now ya know
Social media played a big role in anticipating this evening, with G having announced via Instagram story that he intended on mixing up the style tonight, with this stop being a heavier DJ set, which means it would be a little more improvisational and have more unique “one time only” mixes as compared to some of his more visually supported play-throughs that can sometimes seem a bit “press play” with the screens visual alignment with the songs timing being very apparently pre-constructed.
With this promise, the man did not disappoint, coming out and immediately going to work interlacing beats, vocals, and bass lines that may have shaken a few of our braincells loose in the process. Mixed in with these fly-by-wire DJ concoctions was an amazing mix of the artists album originals. The crowd, gyrating with the beat, was letting off so much steam it became difficult to tell where steam ended and smoke machine fog began, with lights and lasers dancing indifferently on both.
We have seen a lot of GRiZ shows, with the writer of this article having seen him at least nine times. Each of his shows has been unique and different, and this one was no exception. This show’s uniqueness may be due to that opening, where the artist has announced that he is hoping to stop full-blown touring. With that hope to depart from the seven-day- a-week grind of regular touring, the artist seems to be putting everything he has in to this tour. Do not misconstrue this as the end of GRiZ; the artist is not going anywhere, just hoping to be able to refocus his energies. We are sure he will still be heading out to numerous festivals annually, and we would not be surprised to find out he is working on a festival of his own at some point. For the rest, we will just have to wait and see. What is certain though is that you should not miss this last tour.
All photos by Zach Sanders