Throughout my midterms week, I spent every other minute thinking, “I’ll finish this exam, and then Daniel Caesar will somehow announce a pop-up in Connecticut.” Delusional or not, I motivate myself this way, and you can’t be mad at a girl for hoping.
In these trying times of inflation, war, government shutdown, and scarcity, the last thing someone needs to worry about is how to save hundreds to attend a concert. This very problem has been solved by one of America’s top-performing R&B artists—you guessed it, Daniel Caesar. Everyone knows at least one song by Caesar, whether it is “Best Part,” “Superpowers,” or his features, including “Peaches” by Justin Bieber; the list goes on. His impact on the R&B industry is felt worldwide. His rise to stardom began in 2016 after releasing “Get You,” featuring Kali Uchis. The song reached global-scale popularity and earned him a Grammy nomination.
Caesar now begins a free tour for his upcoming album, “Son of Spergy.” He announced this free tour on Sept. 24, one month before his new album is released. Here’s the catch: he announces the location of each performance within less than 24 hours prior. This is why social media has been going crazy with memes, clips of these outdoor concerts, and content. People have joked about dropping everything and running to the location, videotaping from trees, on top of buildings, and on any structure to see the beloved Daniel Caesar. It truly is a breath of fresh air to return to how older musicians did it—the Beatles on top of the London Apple Corps building. True community is returned to us in our modern-day setting, and for a few hours in a park, everyone is silent, listening to his beautiful voice—a collective understanding of quiet.
Still, we cannot truly appreciate Daniel Caesar without recognizing his controversy. If you haven’t heard of it before, then I’ll start from the beginning, an Instagram live. Isn’t that how all drama starts? While drunk, Caesar defended a white woman who was accused of cultural appropriation and essentially called out Black people for being “so mean” to her. Yeah, not good. This live ended in a snowball effect of everyone “cancelling” him, saying he’s a colorist, racist, etc. He swiftly apologized. However, the damage was already done and his image took a fall. Now, once again commenting, he says, “I was canceled for being drunk and foolish in public. But that was something I was always allowed to do. No one gave a sh*t [until I started to get famous].” Whether to forgive or not is up to you. At the end of the day, I must address this before praising his new music and his tour concepts.
Back to the scheduled programming. Where has he been?
He began in Toronto at Trinity Bellwoods, Montreal at Parc des Hirondelles, Vancouver at John Hendry Park, Bozeman, Montana, at 130 North Rocky Creek Rd (a private property), L.A. at Elysian Park, Houston, Texas, at Bear Creek Pioneers Park, and then most recently on Oct. 14 in Atlanta, at Piedmont Park.
Where is he going next?
Well, after mapping out his past concerts, he seems to be going around the outskirts of the US, from LA to Texas to Atlanta. The next location may be one of three: Charlotte/Richmond, Virginia, or the DC/Baltimore area. So if you’re around there right now, get ready. After that, we can assume a Philly pop-up, an NYC pop-up, and hopefully a CT pop-up if we’re lucky.
And how can you get there?
Drop everything and run.