Following months of his discography dominating my ‘On Repeat’ playlist on Spotify, my experience watching Keshi live definitely felt as though it ended ‘2 soon’. After accumulating over one billion streams with songs such as ‘like i need you’ and ‘blue’, Keshi headed out on his HELL & BACK tourearlier this year.
Gracing O2 Victoria Warehouse with a performance accompanying his magnum opus album GABRIEL, Keshi showcased a collection of songs that mix hip hop music, lo-fi and contemporary R&B. From the very beginning, the energy of the artist was electric and dispersed out into the crowd as if he was quite literally ‘beside you’ (sorry, I promise I will stop with the awful song title puns).
Starting the evening with music from Japanese-American producer and artist Rei Brown, the dreamy and captivating blend of lo-fi RnB and pop worked well to hype up the crowd before the arrival of Keshi. If his music wasn’t impactful enough, the endearing persona Rei conveyed to the audience through light-hearted banter and friendly interactions helped to bring the good vibes. In particular, his introduction to the song EZ from the 2022 album Xeno asked the audience to create an antiphony through call and response, singing along to the chorus of the song. Immediately, I added the song to my playlist and every listen since the concert has taken me back to the fun and excitement present in the moment. Additionally, a few unreleased songs were performed, including a collaboration with YouTuber-turned-musician Joji.
I also MUST talk about Rei Brown’s outfit – absolutely acing the acubi aesthetic, the greyscale monochromatic two-piece consisted of a sheer baggy crop top and matching parachute pants. Paired with his chill exterior on the stage, the only word I can think of to describe my first impression of him was COOL.
With Keshi originating on SoundCloud, where lo-fi beats and ultra-chill R&B vocalisations formed the focus of his releases, I was extremely intrigued to see how these songs would translate onto a bigger stage. The stage was stripped back, projecting the live band onto the screen behind the artist. This worked alongside the strobe lighting to create a relaxed ambience throughout the performance, a refreshing contrast to the flashy concerts that are prominent today.
Teasing the audience with lyrics from the chill song ‘blue’, Keshi caught us by surprise when immediately heading into ‘Get It’, a song full of vocal layers and experimental beats, working with distorted voices that are a repeated motif throughout the song. Being one of my favourites from his new album, I was so happy that the concert began with an upbeat, groovy tune to hype up the crowd. Transitioning from the chill vibes of his earlier works to the newer more eclectic songs was a common theme within the setlist, keeping the performance exciting and fresh.
The backing band worked extremely well on some of his emptier songs such as ‘like i need u’ or ‘drunk’ helping to project the more delicate music to the crowd. He also honoured us with a rendition of a new song that will be released later this year named ‘kiss me right’, which had similar vibes to his previous songs ‘B.Y.S’ or ‘2 soon’, showcasing soft vocals against a somehow both upbeat and sombre track.
I thoroughly enjoyed this concert, noticeably loving the addition of ‘atlas’ to the set list, which worked well alongside the more emotional songs ‘Angel’ and ‘Gabriel’– songs that feel like beautiful, love-struck lullaby’s feeding the audience his raw emotions.
If you are unfamiliar with Keshi’s work, you may want to give him a listen if you are a fan of John Mayer, Frank Ocean, The 1975, Drake or Bryson Tiller, who he quotes as some of his greatest musical influences. GABRIEL has also recently been compared to Brockhampton albums. Keshi’s performance will definitely be a core memory for me. I am already anticipating both his return to the UK, and his future releases!