They've played Europe and many major American cities twice over, and now Odd Future will finally perform in Arizona at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe on Tuesday, November 8, 2011.
The Los Angeles rap collective is widely known for its unique, high-energy, punk-rock-style performance. Ski masks, stage diving and unpredictable antics are par for the course. What many Phoenecians might not realize however is that Odd Future's Domo Genesis has actually performed in Tempe before, when he was a student at Arizona State University.
In June, front man Tyler the Creator broke his foot stomping around stage during the very first song of a performance in Los Angeles but finished the entire set.
The show in Tempe is a long time coming. Universatile Music (UM), which is promoting the show in conjunction with Stateside Presents, has been trying to bring the Odd Future movement to the Valley ever since Tyler dropped Bastard in February, 2010, according to UM's Reuben Martinez.
"In that time it's grown way bigger than any of us have every expected it to," Martinez said. "Their live show is bananas so we're obviously all pumped for that."
Martinez and fellow UMers saw Odd Future play at their most notorious performance to date, at the Billboard SXSW showcase in March.
Either annoyed by the apathy displayed by the crowd of music industry insiders or cognizant of the publicity it would generate, OF dissed Billboard and stormed off stage after performing just a few songs. This came after Billboard magazine featured the group on the cover of its SXSW issue. That stunt put Odd Future, at that point still unproven, off the charts on the scale of don't give a fuckness.
This writer caught both of their SXSW performances at the Fader Fort. Each was equally eventful. At their scheduled show, producer and hype man Left Brain sent a completely full, cap-in-tact water bottle into the nose of a young man in front of me at approximately 3,194 miles per hour. At another surprise performance later in the weekend, they accidentally kicked the face of a photographer next to me in the photo pit while stage diving.
Basically, these young rappers are more like the Misfits than Wu Tang Clan when it comes putting on a show. And that's something refreshing for hip hop fans.
Advanced tickets are $22 and go on sale Wednesday, August 3. Visit UM or Stateside Presents for details.
