During the opening show on his North American tour, Steve Lacy admitted that he was nervous earlier in the day. He said he only consumed a cold brew and protein bar. “I’m probably going to eat something [later] that will make me s**t my pants tomorrow,” he told the Armory’s audience in Minneapolis on Sunday evening. The producer and singer-songwriter would go on to test-run a two-and-a-half-hour set of his signature alternative R&B anthems.

Lacy split the performance into two segments. Before the deep cuts and popular hits from earlier in his career came all of the songs from his new album, Oh yeah?, front to back. Like the studio recording released in July, the album’s live performance flowed smoothly through the breezy verses and ear-catching melodies and contained some of the sonic highlights of his discography. There was the pop hook, “Am I your baby?” in the hip-hop power ballad, “the feeling;” the easygoing pop-rock of “doom;” and the sweet bedroom R&B of “is it cool? (feat. SZA).”

“It felt very right that I play the album in order,” he explained to the crowd while standing in a cloud of pink fog onstage. “I really spent a lot of time sequencing the album… I thought it would be really important to play it like I made it because I really love how I made it.”

Lacy’s words came with a sense of sincerity and an intention to share his cherished work with fans. However, because of fans’ desires to share the artist’s work with those not in the room, Lacy could most easily be seen only through hundreds of screens held overhead for extended periods of time. From the five minutes between when the lights lowered and soft music began ruminating to when synths rang out and Lacy took the stage, the crowd’s phones’ batteries and data storage took a hit.

Lacy’s backing band — a guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, and drummer who were often engulfed in the fog — sounded near flawless. The lo-fi, funky drums of “oh yeah?” and psychedelic and soul-filled keys of “pure colour (feat. Erykah Badu)” created an ethereal soundscape. Plus, Lacy’s vocals were crisp for the verses on ballads like “Only If” from his debut album, Apollo XXI, to express feelings without visible facial indicators.

After a few songs, Lacy seemed to have shed the pre-show chills and didn't shy away from a little teasing. After “lovesexdrugbomb,” featuring recorded vocals from Cecile Believe and swooning guitars, a lift of his shirt to flash his abs triggered screams from the crowd. “You’re horny little kids,” he laughed. “Don’t sexualize me.” He would shortly leave the stage and return shirtless for the remainder of the evening.

Next on the docket was “nice shoes / in your world,” which he prefaced with, “When this beat drops, [I’m going to] need everyone to lose your marbles.” He continued, “I don’t want no marbles in the b***tch.” After a fluttery electronic lead-up and a bass drop, he began with, “If I, if I had a dollar for the friends I would f**k / I could buy a pair of really nice shoes,” Lacy unleashed his highest energy of the night. If you’ve heard Oh yeah? you’ll know there were other explicit (and, at times, reductive) lyrics, which the crowd echoed.

Throughout the evening, small cracks in the show’s infrastructure emerged, and Lacy didn’t try to hide mishaps. “It’s the first show, we gotta figure out these kinks,” he said. And “First night, we’re figuring out this s**t.”

In an attempt to teach the audience how to sing harmonies in a song’s intro, a sound tech began a backing track too soon, to which Lacy cut the music: “Stop that. They f**k it up.” Near the end of the set, the singer asked the audience if they could see a screen behind him, and the wall was blank. When his image with a hazy mirror effect finally appeared on screen, he responded in a dissatisfied tone, “Turn that effect off. Raw dog me.”

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

6 of 6

1 of 6

2 of 6

Next Slide

Another trial-run was a cover of the Smiths’ “This Night Has Opened My Eyes,” a track from the 1984 compilation Hatful of Hollow. The audience’s familiarity with the song would determine if Lacy continued playing it on tour. The results were inconclusive.

With four tracks left to go, Lacy said, “I’m almost done!” He thought about cutting the setlist down for the rest of the tour. “Should I keep it this long?” he asked, as if noise coming from the crowd could offer productive feedback.

It can be generous for a musician to give fans as much time as possible to hear their favorite songs. There’s also a limit, and Lacy pushed it.

The over-five-minute jam session featuring Lacy on his knees strumming his heart out could have been a decent way to end the evening. Finally, the lights went out, and Lacy left the stage, but the band remained. After playing every song from the new album plus all the highest-streamed songs, what else could be essential?

Two more repeats from Oh yeah? is the answer. At least the catchy tracks didn’t feel redundant; it had been a while since we heard them the first time. With 26 shows left on tour, there is plenty of room for Steve Lacy and the crew to button up details and find a steady groove.

Setlist:

oh yeah?

is it cool? (feat. SZA)

the feeling

pure colour (Erykah Badu)

show you me

doom

nothing

lovesexdrugbomb (feat. Cecile Believe)

nice shoes / in your world

Bebe

Only If

C U Girl

Sunshine

Basement Jack

Hate CD

Thise Night Has Opened My Eyes (The Smiths cover)

Static

Some

Ryd

Mercury

N Side

Infrunami

Give You the World

Bad Habit

Dark Red

Encore:

the feeling

oh yeah?