By Sydney Hazelton<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fans of Dominic Fike seem to have mixed reactions over his live performances. Some say live performances are the best way to experience his music, while others say they are no good compared to his studio recordings. When I bought tickets for the Moon Man\u2019s Landing festival, hosted and organized by Kid Cudi in Cleveland last August, I was excited to see for myself. He performed music from his debut album What Could Possibly Go Wrong<\/em> and the Don\u2019t Forget About Me, Demos<\/em> EP.<\/em> The performance itself was good. He often altered his recordings to fit a more electric sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I enjoyed how he played around with his own music. It may not have been what the crowd was expecting, but did they even care? Nope. The most negative factor in this performance was that the crowd was just not his<\/em> crowd. They weren\u2019t invested in his set \u2013 and with headliners such as Kid Cudi and Playboi Carti \u2013 he was playing for a demographic largely unfamiliar with his discography. I didn\u2019t have strong feelings after this performance \u2013 perhaps a little disappointed since I didn\u2019t get to hear him that well. Overall, the concert didn\u2019t blow me away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His second studio album, Sunburn<\/em>, released on July 7th of 2023 with 15 songs and a runtime of 39 minutes. As dates for the Don\u2019t Stare at the Sun<\/em> Tour were announced, I found myself immediately purchasing the tickets to see him at the Andres J Brady Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was excited not only to see his new music live, but also to see him perform in front of his own crowd. The entire experience, from start to finish, was as smooth as I could have hoped. Parking was directly across the street, the line started moving the second we stepped in it, and when the concert let out, we were able to make it to the car and onto the highway to return to Columbus within a matter of minutes. It was my most trouble-free concert experience, and the performance only made the night so much sweeter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fike stepped onto a dimly lit stage as the track How Much Is Weed?<\/em> thrummed. It only fit that Sunburn\u2019s <\/em>opening record would also open up the performance. He followed the track with the tune Mama\u2019s Boy<\/em> \u2013 another hit with the crowd and the first of many songs that absolutely outshined their studio counterparts. With Fike on the electric guitar, the energy was unmatched. Similar to his performance at Moon Man\u2019s Landing, he made some live alterations. This time they were not as drastic, but still added so much to the music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He used two mics throughout the show \u2013 one that is considered a \u201cdry mic\u201d and another the \u201cwet mic.\u201d The latter was hooked up to a KAOSS PAD, which is a type of sampler and effects modulator. This was one of his changes to his performance that really made it something special. His on-the-spot modulation and vocal sampling took the music to another level. Another unexpected but very welcome addition to his performance was the unreleased tear-jerker demo played as an intro to Dark<\/em>. The juxtaposition was lethal, and definitely the best part of the night in my eyes. Other favorites included Superstar Sh*t, Kiss of Venus, Bodies, Sunburn, <\/em>and Frisky.<\/em> This performance exceeded all my expectations, proving his music a much better experience live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Set List:<\/p>\n\n\n\n How Much Is Weed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mama\u2019s Boy<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ant Pile<\/p>\n\n\n\n Double Negative (Skeleton Milkshake)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Kiss of Venus<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sick<\/p>\n\n\n\n Westcoast Collective<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 Nights<\/p>\n\n\n\n Superstar Sh*t<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunburn<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Unknown Intro*<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dark<\/p>\n\n\n\n Come Here<\/p>\n\n\n\n Babydoll<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pasture Child<\/p>\n\n\n\n She Wants My Money<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frisky<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bodies<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mona Lisa<\/p>\n\n\n\n Phone Numbers<\/p>\n\n\n\n Politics and Violence<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Sydney Hazelton Fans of Dominic Fike seem to have mixed reactions over his live performances. Some say live performances are the best way to experience his music, while others say they are no good compared to his studio recordings. When I bought tickets for the Moon Man\u2019s Landing festival, hosted and organized by Kid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1590,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions\/1590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}