LECRAE- PlayStation Theater

Written By- Jesse Baskin- Contributing Writer
Photos By- Jesse Baskin

The marquee outside

As the house lights dimmed inside the PlayStation Theater, smack dab in the middle of Times Square, the excited crowd roared with excitement when a huge blast of confetti was set off as Lecrae took the stage. A Christian Hip-Hop rapper from Texas, Lecrae has won almost every prestigious award in the industry: a Grammy, a BET, a Soul Train, just to name a few. 

He is currently touring his latest album, his Eighth, 'All Things Work Together'. Accompanied by his background dancers, or should I say... foreground dancers, Lecrae and his squad had the audience singing along to every lyric as each and every song blended seamlessly together with no time to catch your breath.

Lacrae mesmerizing

Roughly four songs in, Lacrae took time to preach to the crowd about forward thinking, and keeping a positive mind-state even when life's situations are stacked against you. After receiving praise from the audience he jumped right back into his set with even more energy and vigor.

TESTIFY!

He introduced all his bandmates: the drummer, keyboardist and background singers. Giving a special shout-out to his DJ, DJ Promote, for holding it down with the mixing of all the fan friendly hits he continued to rock the crowd with more jams and more spiritual speeches as the performance came to an epic grand finale.

The finale.

"One more song!, One more song! One more song!" chanted the concert goers. With the stage empty and the house lights illuminated it seemed as if all hope was lost for one last banger. Energy was reignited with an explosion of pyrotechnics, along came a TWO-SONG ENCORE from Lacrae and his hype man. The audience was elated! After the encore they all left with huge grins while new and old fans alike all rushed the merch table to pick up something before they exited into the New York night.

The entire show was really great. The new album, 'All Things Work Together' is absolutely phenomenal. You can check out Lecrae, give the new tunes a listen and pick up your own copy through his website here: Lecrae's website

QUINN XCII- Bowery Ballroom

Written by Backstage Bruce

Photos by Jesse Baskin

    INCREDIBLE! Just incredible, QUINN XCII, (XCII is 92 in Roman Numerals, the year he was born) is from Detroit and is welcome back to New York anytime he wants!

    Shallou kicked off the show at the sold-out Bowery Ballroom.

The Bowery Ballroom

    The Bowery Ballroom is one of the greatest places to see a show in New York City. If you are visiting, check out their website Bowery Ballroom and check it out. They have something going on every night of the week. There are three levels. On the top, third level is couches, tables, the V.I.P. areas and a nice-sized bar. There is a big, beautiful, picturesque window that looks right down onto Delancy Street.  

    The main level is where the stage is. The main bar is there in the back. Then there is the downstairs lounge where the after-parties take place.  
    The staff is very hospitable and welcoming, from the security guards outside checking I.D.'s and issuing wristbands to the ticket takers at the door. The bartenders on all three levels always greet you with a huge smile as they whip you up whatever cocktail you desire. It's a terrific place to see a show. 

Shallou

    The opening act- Shallou. Electronic Music, a perfect start to the evening, got the crowd moving and grooving. Technically, Shallou, is a him. And that him is Joe Boston. He is a musician and producer. On stage there were two of them, they each had a keyboard. Shallou also played the guitar in addition to the keys. The other member played the keys and provided percussion while playing a drum machine.

    They took the stage and just started playing, no greeting, nothing said. They let their music be their intro. They played songs from the debut EP 'All Becomes Okay'. The first single from the EP 'Begin' reached number #1 on Sirius XM Chill, a nice start. The follow up single 'Doubt (Summertime Edit)' received over 12-million streams on Spotify.

Joe Boston

    Asked in an interview how he came up with the name for his debut EP, Boston stated "The title comes from living in a fearful world. Watching the news with everything going on in the world, I developed all of these weird fears. 'All Becomes Okay' was kind of a mantra I wanted to repeat to myself and tell other people. It's not a passive thing, but an active hope."

    They were really good and fun. They kept the crowd entertained during their 40-minute set. The audience was engaged and engrossed, they weren't buried in their phones, which is no easy task. After they left the stage I turned to my concert buddy, Jesse Baskin, and said "I think the guy playing the drum machine should have given a few sticks to those three guys in the front row. 

    My friend asked "Why?" And I said "Are you kidding? Look at the energy they have. They were there to see the headliner, Quinn 92, but they showed a lot of love to Shallou. They were dancing and taking photos having the time of their lives. If he would have given them sticks they would be taking pictures of the sticks and posting them all over their social media accounts. It would have just been a good way to get their name out there even further, and those three deserve sticks."

    Shallou was great, check out his/their website and give the songs a listen, you'll be glad you did: Shallou's Website

The actual poster of the show

    It was now time for the headliner, the person everyone came to see. Over six hundred people packed in on a Monday night.

    One word, Wow! He wowed the crowd. I feel so lucky to have been there. I can see this guy selling out Madison Square Garden or Radio City Music Hall in the very near future, maybe even his next tour. Now if you have never heard of him, that's okay, you're hearing about him now and he just released his very first album, 'The Story Of Us', September 15th, only three-weeks ago, so you are right there. You're there since the first album and that's what counts.

QUINN XCII

    He takes the stage. He has two musicians with him, a drummer and a keyboard player. Both were intensely electrifying. The keyboard player had three keyboards surrounding him: one to the left, one to the right and one in front. He played them all. Plus he danced the entire night. You could just feel his energy from wherever you were at. The drummer kept the beat going perfectly all night while Quinn XCII was showcasing his talents either rapping really fast or slowing it down a bit with a sultry song or a reggae influenced jam.

    A cozy, living room effect made up the set design. The backdrop was a couch and a picture frame over it, it looked like a living room. The show starts, the music is pumping and the strobe lights are strobing. There are two different colored strobes, one red, one blue. They were official police-car sized. 

    After the band played the intro number, they/he launched into a lot of sweet tunes including 'Worst', 'Full Circle', and 'Another Day In Paradise'. The audience sang right along! It was captivating. He made great eye contact with the people and talked to them a bit asking a few questions here and there. He had tremendous stage presence, really owning it from one side to the other. He gave a shout out to the peeps in the balconies.

    They played a few more great songs, '60 Seconds', 'Make Time', 'Fake Denim' and again the crowd knew every word. They danced so hard, they bounced. The Bowery Ballroom actually shook when they bounced. I'm not kidding either, go to the third floor and you can feel it bounce! It's almost a little scary. His/their entire performance was phenomenal. 

    He ended the show with the first hit off the new album, 'Straightjacket'. That song has millions of streams and was named 'Song Of The Month' on Spotify. Next time he comes through make it a point to go see him, you'll have as much of a great time as everyone did that night. In the meantime check out his website where you can get your own copy of 'The Story Of Us': Quinn XCII's Website

Brian, Matt & Dominic. They got drumsticks and the setlist. And the setlist!  

    The house lights went on and I looked down onto the crowd and I saw the three guys, who I said deserve sticks, were holding sticks! Quinn XCII's drummer gave them each one, he picked up on their positive vibes. 

    I pointed them out to my buddy and he asked me "How? How could you possibly call that hours ago?" I said "That one was easy, everybody had terrific energy all night, but these three really brought it!" And the artists love that. That's who they want in their front rows, true fans singing, dancing along, taking photos, just enjoying themselves. 

    We started to exit the place and we ran into these three at the merch table, so I knew I had to get a quote for the blog, or a question and a picture. I asked them "How and when did you first hear of QUINN XCII?" 

    Both Brian and Dominic told me "Matt turned us on to him." So I asked Matt the same question and he said "I've been a fan for years, I mean years! I first discovered him on Soundcloud and once I heard one song, I just started listening to every song of his over and over again."

    So take Matt's advice and check out Quinn XCII, you will love him too.