Experiencing a Masego show is like a jazz ensemble of Funk/RnB/Hip-hop roots, with a lot of necessary jamming in between. As the first artist to coin his music as “TrapHouseJazz”, Masego’s performances entail enough talents to sell out stadiums, much rather the humbly-sized Neumos, with a capacity of 650. As fog takes over the stage, it is filled with three backup singers and a four-piece band including drums, keyboard, bass and lead guitar. Masego enters sax in hand to set precedent for the night’s performance with “Tadow”, his hit song co-produced with FKJ. Being a song you think you’d have to wait longer into the set to hear, it helped me focus on the rest of the show where his true ambitions as an artist would shine. The remainder had us going up like a club on songs like Navajo, Wifeable, Bounce and Girls That Dance. Masego flowed effortlessly on RnB/Hip-hop ballads Old Age, Lavish Lullaby and I Had a Vision which featured on his definitive 2018 album, Lady Lady. Then he gently brings the crowd back to normal with his smoother cuts like Nayhoo, Prone and Black Love. Expect to soothe your body, mind and soul at this show.
Among performing his studio released songs, he made breaks between to build his own beats live with a loop machine that he would sing and flow over. It was like seeing a mini version of the eight minute “Tadow” music video that initially turned a lot of heads to Masego’s corner with over 100 million views on YouTube. It was special to see those talents recreated in-person, which influenced my stance that he is a complete meistro in the music industry.
His energy in live performance surprises me at every turn with more versatility than most of the concerts I’ve been to. Masego is soon to become a household name; if he’s ever in Seattle in the future, I wouldn’t hesitate to go again.
By: Jonathan Pendleton | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!
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