CounterPoint 2014: Outkast concert thrills as Big Boi and Andre 3000 return to Georgia stage
Plenty of people might have expected the heavens to open and the ground to shake when Outkast finally made its long-anticipated return to Georgia.
But who knew it be so literal?
It took until 11:35 p.m. Sunday night for it to finally happen, but when Antwan “Big Boi” Patton and André “3000” Benjamin stepped onto the stage at CounterPoint Music Festival, all of the recent aggravations – the two-hour rain delay from earlier in the evening, the molasses-paced crawl of traffic into the parking area at Kingston Downs, the technical snafus that delayed the duo’s start time another 30 minutes – dissipated with the frenetic blast of “B.O.B.”
There, under a feverish swirl of spotlights and in front of a silhouette of an American flag, Big Boi and Andre 3000 took but a few seconds to slip into a groove that belied their near-decade apart.
True, Outkast had two dates at Coachella earlier this month to prepare for their homecoming (and yes, we know that Rome isn’t their hometown, but it’s as close to Atlanta as they’re coming right now). But this show would be special – and it was, if only symbolically.
The guys –as well as a live band including a drummer, horn section and backup singers – primarily stuck to the same setlist as week two at Coachella (wisely, they tweaked a few songs and corrected a few pacing problems from their initial comeback show). But even those fans crammed in the back of the massive sea of people could feel how much Big Boi and Andre 3000 enjoyed performing for people who understood their stories about their early days of perfecting their raps while circling a table at Big Boi’s aunt’s kitchen in Atlanta.
"It's good to be back in the dirty, dirty," said Big Boi, who was clad in his usual style of military-meets-street. Andre 3000, meanwhile, presented his own fashion statement in a white-blonde wig and black jumpsuit with an X across the front.
Throughout the 90-minute set, few fans could keep up with the Grammy-winning pair’s rapid flow of intricate lyrics – really, does anyone do it better? – but most seemed content to nod their heads to the tight funk pulse behind “Gasoline Dreams” and the sinewy, insinuating groove of “Skew it on the Bar-B.”
While the CounterPoint stage could have benefited from the use of a video screen or three, Outkast utilized a giant cube as a palette to project images – a red-lipped mouth sharing the “ah ha, hush that fuss” hook of “Rosa Parks” and a cascading waterfall to accompany the teal-blue lasers that stretched across the crowd during the loping “Aquemini.”
From the woozy live horns that coated “Da Art of Storytelling” with its jazzy vibe to steady thump of “Ms. Jackson,” it was again apparent at how revolutionary Outkast has been in the 20 years since its debut, "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik."
While Big Boi and Andre 3000 are always better together than apart, their solo turns on the silken earworm “The Way You Move” (with Sleepy Brown adding falsetto) and the old-school soul ballad “Prototype,” respectively, kept the crowd involved.
During Coachella, Andre 3000 reportedly wasn't quite engaged during the song that has defined Outkast to the mainstream – the unforgettable "Hey Ya!" But on Sunday (well, Monday at that point), he strutted the stage with loose-limbed vitality and welcomed Janelle Monae (who performed Saturday at the three-day CounterPoint) to happily shake it like a Polaroid picture.
As ‘Dre and Big Boi stood swaying side by side to early creations “Hootie Hoo” and “Crumblin’ Erb” – and later with Killer Mike for “The Whole World” – fans could feel hopeful that maybe this 40-date festival tour represents a new chapter in Outkast lore.