Changing Badbadnotgood to Goodgoodnotbad

On March 28, I had the opportunity to see BadBadNotGood live at Maxwell’s.

The Toronto based band is taking your parents’ boring old jazz music and serving you with a fresh genre you never thought you could be into as much as you are now.

I had very high hopes for this concert as I attended Osheaga last summer while they were struggling to keep their performance afloat due to the harsh rain conditions. Being unable to play their desired set, they opted to cover “Mask Off” by Future and it was ludicrously amazing and probably the first time I really started to like them.

On top of receiving many roaring reviews from artists such as Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean and Ghostface Killah, the Toronto natives are reinventing the idea of a jazz band.

After seeing them in concert I have gained the utmost respect for them.

Jazz is such a limited, niche market that breaking through in this industry can be difficult, yet they are currently on top of their game.

Going into the event I was expecting the crowd to be empty as every single one of my friends and their friends’ friends were overtly fangirling that Daniel Caesar was coming to Laurier.

A big shoutout to BadBadNotGood for their ticket sales; Maxwell’s advertised this event at being over 80 per cent sold out.

I am always one to be excited to see who the opening acts are at a show and I can confidently say that there are some openers I have seen in the past that I still listen to this day. Standing on the Corner promptly came out with high energy, making me profoundly interested in what they had to offer with all the instruments they brought out.

Their music style was a mix of many genres and demonstrated that there wasn’t an instrument they weren’t able to play. At times I often found myself comparing them to the Beastie Boys with their eclectic underground New York rap. However, their playful beats and overlap of sound had me also comparing them to Alt-J a few times; the UK natives who are popular for their hallucinatory style. Have I confused you on their style yet?

If you are looking for a brand new style of music I would highly recommend giving them a listen.

Their sound complemented BadBadNotGood perfectly due to the complexity of their instrumental rhythm and was a perfect band to help the crowd get ready.

When BadBadNotGood came on they set the mood by lighting incense and I was purely in my element.

I could close my eyes and I was practically transported back to Kensington Market in Toronto. They opened with “Speaking Gently”; a personal favourite of mine, and they kept a confident and cool poise to them the entire set.

There was something so fascinating about each individual member completing a solo and watching the other members instantly show a face of complete satisfaction.

This shows that they truly love what they do and I have so much respect for that.

At times I did in fact find myself to be a little bored; this was actually my first all-instrumental concert.

To get the crowd going, the members of the band took to the front of the stage and lightly pranced around flailing their arms in the air encouraging the crowd to follow their motions.

It was as if an instant connection became evident.

The crowd got way more into it and, ultimately, a mosh bit was born.

Never would I have thought that I would be in the midst of a mosh pit at a jazz concert, but let me tell you, I loved every second of it!

There was something so gratifying about being in a room where absolutely no one cared what was going on or what they were doing.

If you ever have the opportunity to see BadBadNotGood in concert I would highly recommend it.

And even if jazz music isn’t your preferred genre, I would highly recommend giving them a try, or at least checking out their diverse set of collaborations with rappers.