Atmosphere - The Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI (9.12.2010)

It’s been three weeks since I went to see Atmosphere at The Intersection in Grand Rapids so I will keep this succinct. I don’t like to let that much time pass between experiencing a show and then writing about it… I like to write when it’s fresh. But trying to balance a job in the restaurant industry with finding the time to go to shows (much less write about them) is not always easy… the two of them sort of slide against the grain. Regardless, I had gotten my morning shift out of the way the day that Atmosphere was coming to town so I met up with my sister and my brother-in-law downtown and we headed towards the venue. Naturally, we were sucked in by the vacuum-like force that is Founder’s Brewery so we decided not to fight it and stopped in for a couple of tasty ales.

When we finally made it to The Intersection, the lights had dropped and Sean ‘Slug’ Daley was taking the stage. I couldn’t believe how packed this place was. I can honestly say that in all of the years that I have been going to The Intersection (since High School!), I have never seen it that crowded. Rumor has it the show was sold out. Apparently, despite having listened to Sean for probably 6 years now, I have been asleep while the Atmosphere name has been absolutely blowing up. I’m glad for Sean, though, he definitely deserves the recognition. With his faithful DJ, Ant, behind the turntables as well as a keyboardist and guitarist, Daley began rhyming with the graceful, smooth, and confident style that Atmosphere fans have come to know and love.

A few songs in, Sean broke into a raucous version of “Trying to Find a Balance” that had the entire crowd bouncing up and down to the beat and throwing back their hands. I was impressed with the number of people in attendance that seemed to be keen to his older material. Not only that, but I was equally impressed with Sean’s attitude towards performing his old material. He had sort of a I’m going to sing this shit whether you like it or not because this is where I came from and this is who I am sort of an attitude. Keeping in mind that I haven’t been to very many hip-hop shows, I did notice that Sean wasn’t using any tricks or gimmicks to make himself sound any different than exactly what he sounds like. Often times rappers use backing tracks when they perform live so that they are able to fall back on recorded vocals if they need to take a breather or can’t keep up. Not Sean. And in my honest opinion, if you are writing a song that has lines in it that are too long to spit in one breath, than you shouldn’t have written it in the first place. None of this backing track garbage. Sean steps up and murders his vocals (in the best possible way) and raps so spot on to Ant’s beats that it blows me away. With speed and fluidity, Daley rhymed to classic tunes like “God Loves Ugly” as well as some of his newer and even newest material off of the double EP release “To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy”. Sean is back at it with his latest release, rapping heartfelt and honest songs about women, his ongoing struggle with drugs and alcohol, and about… well, women mostly. With “Always Coming Back home to You” towards the end of the set, I was officially psyched about this Atmosphere show. Sporting a Minnesota baseball cap, Sean was never shy about his allegiance to the Midwest and the sold out Grand Rapids crowd was just eating it up. By the time he was finished, I was eating it up too. The band had been spot on and Atmosphere means serious, serious business.