The best way to start this recap might be to tell you this story of miniscule hilarity:
I imagine that N*E*R*D have no set openers for these March dates. It’s just whomever the venues can pull for the gig on short(ish) notice. Apparently, there was no specific opener for this first Northampton date, because once we got inside a DJ played like a two-hour set to fill time, which was… interesting. I mean, you could tell where he started to lose steam and was just trying to find anything cool to put together.
Anyway, because of that, the venue was in no hurry to let people inside at first. My friend Becca and I showed up at Pearl Street Nightclub after eating burritos, and there was a lot of excitement in the line. A dude at the door was worried because they hadn’t let anyone in yet and tickets claimed the show would start at 8:30, people were cold, etc, and then randomly someone would occasionally spot any guy with his hood pulled up and ask, “Oh, whoa, was that Pharrell?” It was that kind of mildly frantic buzz.
Pearl Street is a pretty small venue, so the tour buses were parked on the street, completely visible. Obviously, this meant people were excited and curious about whether or not they’d get to see the band. It was kind of wretchedly amusing. Becca and I got into a whole conversation about how anxious people get just to catch a glimpse of someone, but because we’ve been to a bunch of shows, we’re pretty unconcerned with anything past just getting in and seeing a show. Chances are you won’t see whoever it is, because they’re inside chilling, and if you do happen to see someone, hey, cool, whatever. Nothing to lose your shit over. We were totally having wretched a Seasoned Concert-goer conversation, it’s true.
Of course, no sooner than we blab a lot about how unlikely it is that people will get to randomly see the artist or band wandering around the venue does a line of people head toward us. I figured that they were people who’d come around the front of the venue like us and were trying to find the end of the line, so when the woman in front excused herself, Becca and I stepped aside to let them through. Like the third person in the entourage of folks had his hood up and his head bowed, and as soon as I saw him, I had a definite, “Holy crap,” moment in my head, because, yes, indeed, Pharrell Williams was right in front of me, with Shay and Chad following behind him. Once they were past and climbed onto the tour bus, Becca and I turned our big eyes at one another and had to laugh, because seriously. Seriously? Sometimes real life is a random punchline in itself.
It was also at that point that I finally realized two things: a) N*E*R*D are made up of real people that actually exist, and b) I was finally going to have an opportunity to see them perform.
The downside to having no opener is that you have more time to wait around and wonder when the main act is going to come on stage. Even if a DJ is really good, he or she usually isn’t much to watch for very long. The upside to lacking openers is that when a band finally took the stage, it was obviously the band I was most excited to see.
First the full band came and found their positions. I believe N*E*R*D are touring with a keyboardist, a guitarist, a bassist, and then two drummers. I’m a huge supporter of the double drum sets, I can’t even deny it. The lights on stage didn’t go down at all before Pharrell, Shay, and Chad walked on stage. Instead, one of the drummers raised his arms, encouraging the audience to cheer, and they simply strolled out in a line in hoodies, scarves, and sunglasses. And Chad had on a silly hat.
Whenever performers take the stage covered in things, I always mentally brace myself for the fact that this usually means they need a couple songs to warm to the atmosphere. This was so not the case for N*E*R*D. As soon as the first song started (Chad behind a keyboard of his own), Shay and Pharrell got real comfortable, Pharrell taking off his hoodie and scarf within the first couple lines of the first verse. It continued like that for the rest of the show.
It’s interesting to me because I’ve always gotten the impression that these guys are really comfortable with themselves — real laid-back — but there’s a huge difference between seeming laid back and then watching Pharrell and Shay decide they’re just going cover the stage, arms flailing as they dance, while Chad and the rest of the band get down behind instruments. They were just having fun and you could definitely tell.
I have to admit that I always forget about interviews where Pharrell has mentioned that N*E*R*D aren’t as big a band as some assume. The Neptunes are such familiar producers by now that it’s hard to remember that familiarity doesn’t necessarily translate to active support of their band, which is essentially a different project.
Case and point: this show wasn’t sold out. People were able to buy tickets at the door. Of course, one has to wonder how much of that might have been due to no promotion for these dates until a small mention (not even on their official website) a week before the first show for a tour of mostly smaller cities after a couple years of no performance or new music rather than N*E*R*D still being an acquired taste, but it is worth noting. It was extremely interesting to be there for a show that felt intimate and interactive when I’ve admittedly considered these guys inaccessible (outside of, say, opening for Kanye on an arena tour) because they’re so familiar and successful). They disrupted my conceptions of them in that sense, because the atmosphere was comfortable and completely inclusive. The audience wasn’t just a bunch of people who happened to be there watching N*E*R*D, they were part of this whole collaborative atmosphere.
For this tour, Shay and Pharrell aren’t playing instruments at all, so they had the opportunity to pay a lot of attention to the audience, which they took. During, “Lapdance,” Pharrell even invited three fans on-stage to bounce and thrash with them. The energy throughout the show, even during the slower songs, was consistently high.
The level of excitement in the room probably became most evident when, each time they played a new song, the crowd was still wildly receptive. In particular, there’s a song that has real hard choruses, almost reminiscent of metal in the use of guitars. Pharrell prefaced it by asking, “Y’all want to be part of something you don’t know yet but takes a lot of energy?” and then announced to everyone in the building that if they didn’t come to be energetic and have a good time, he advised moving to the back.
They weren’t kidding about the craziness. During the choruses, Pharrell and Shay were pretty much throwing elbows and letting loose. Chad even abandoned his keyboard at one point to join in on the chaos. It sounded like they kept hollering, “Spazz,” during the chorus, and even though “Breakout” is a song dedicated to moshing and letting out anger, this new song is about ten times more intense. The verses start out, kind of hilariously, “I’m a little teapot, letting off steam –” and continue with a vicious speed that break into the awesomely chaotic refrains.
My only complaint about their set is that it is mournfully short. Well, okay, not really short. They played a standard hour and a half, but I’m sure everyone present would have encouraged more.
When the band left the stage for the pseudo-end, the audience immediately started clapping and chanting, “Encore, encore!” Instead of making us wait for a good couple minutes, Pharrell was heard over the microphone, asking, “What?” and then came back on-stage, peering at the audience as if he was trying to figure out what everyone was trying to say.
The rest of N.E.R.D. and their tour band came back on stage, and they partied for three more songs. “She Wants to Move” was the finale, with Pharrell telling the audience that the venue was ready to kick them out now, so it was up to everybody to make this last moment the best moment.
After they finished, Chad, Shay, and Pharrell took a second to wave and grin at the crowd. Pharrell went from stage right, stretching past the speaker stacks to touch people’s hands and then walked from one side of the stage to the other, showing a little love to every he could reach. He turned his attention to the rest of the crowd as well, holding his arms out and making this sweeping motion from left to right slowly to just acknowledge all sections of the room (as they all had been doing throughout the show, asking how individual sections of people were feeling and pointing at people singing the words in the back and in the front and buried in the middle), and then finally left the stage saluting the room.
It was all beyond satisfying. I generally don’t prefer to see tours at the very beginning because a lot of acts need a day to two to really find the groove, but I am so, so pleased that I got to see the first of many U.S. dates N.E.R.D. will have with the release of their new album, Seeing Sounds. It’s been a minute since we’ve seen them have a chance to really get down, but now they’re back. Most importantly, they’ve brought their A game.
