With the crowd wound up by a high energy performance from opening act CSS, the chants of “Cee-Lo!” and “Danger!” began before they took the stage. Gnarls Barkley greeted the crowd wearing snazzy gold blazers while their backup band was decked in outfits likes it was a Boyz II Men flashback. They wasted no time hitting some of their most popular songs right off the bat: “Gone Baby Gone,” “Run,” and “Going On.”
Amping up the guitar added a heavier rock feel to the introspective “Just a Thought.” As Cee-Lo belted out, “And I’ve tried everything but suicide, but it’s crossed my mind,” with a little bit of head-banging, more than a few people caught the bug and some slight moshing began at the front of the stage. To put a twist on another song from their debut, they turned the originally drum ‘n bass laced “Transformer” into a slow tempo soul tune. The new takes on both were a pleasant surprise.
The highlight of the show came during the encore when they covered Radiohead’s latest single “Reckoner.” Those familiar with the song know the key to “Reckoner” is not the lyrics (as they are virtually undecipherable) or the hypnotizing loop—it’s the vocal harmonizing that elevates continuously through the song and dips just before erupting in the breakdown. Thom Yorke should be proud of how Cee-Lo handled those vocals; he belted out like he was infected by the holy ghost.
These two superstars have a long list of individual accomplishments under their respective belts, but as of yet none of them have matched the triumph of their collaboration as Gnarls Barkley. Cee-Lo has promised that he and Danger Mouse will record at least one more album together; perhaps to cap off a trilogy of one of the most successful groups of recent times.
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