mk.gee Performs Sold-Out Shows at L.A.’s Fonda Theatre: Full Review

Los Angeles-based musician mk.gee performed back-to-back offered out reveals this week on the Fonda Theater in Hollywood, and the performances had been no-frills: no opener, no banter, no visuals.

Actually, mk.gee may hardly be seen amidst the highlight positioned straight behind him for the complete present on Wednesday (April 24). He let his music do the entire speaking as an alternative, and whereas this description may sound uninspired, the actual impact was something however. mk.gee’s efficiency was extra charming and enigmatic than even his recorded music — a present that saved the highlight fastened on the artist’s work reasonably than the artist himself.

After releasing his newest album, Two Star and the Dream Police, on Feb. 9, mk.gee (actual title: Mike Gordon) has been amassing his personal model of mysterious indie stardom. He’s at all times been a musician’s musician, beloved by everybody from Frank Ocean to Anderson .Paak courting again to 2018’s sunnier album Pronounced McGee. However the singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer had but to hit the radar of many present listeners till Two Star debuted.

That is seemingly as a result of he retains to himself. It’s clear mk.gee will not be chasing algorithms or clout or cash. He hardly ever does interviews or reveals his complete face in photographs. Essentially the most he’s ever been seen actually was when he performed guitar in Dijon’s music movies for Completely, the acclaimed 2021 album that he co-wrote and co-produced, or the current time he performed on Jimmy Kimmel Stay! Even then, viewers within the YouTube remark part had been calling him a “Batman of Music.”

It’s refreshing — and stunning — to see a musician like mk.gee in 2024, and his elusiveness and deal with his craft will not be one thing I believed may nonetheless work in an period of shameless and fixed self-promotion. With mk.gee, the music is sufficient. What a aid that’s.

He got here with simply two bandmates (Andrew Aged and Zack Sekof), a tough set-up to tug off, particularly when the point of interest of the efficiency is on the musicality of the artist on stage. Taking part in via songs from Two Star, the three musicians improvised over the tracks, patiently and incisively, bringing new emotional heft to songs that already oozed with it to start with. Generally this may go on for minutes longer than the recorded model’s run time, particularly after “Are You Trying Up” which marked the tip of the set earlier than he got here again for an encore, and it was at all times felt like a present to listen to the trio hold going.

If the set may very well be in comparison with anybody else’s, it will in all probability be that of musical polymath James Blake or of Bon Iver’s 22, A Million performances, which have equally used backlighting and an clever mixture of programmed and ad-libbed enjoying.

Whereas I hoped to listen to some tracks from Pronounced McGee and The Museum of Contradiction (2020), mk.gee’s set was rather more uniform as merely a showcase of Two Star songs, and I may forgive these exclusions for the sonic consistency this selection delivered to the present. All in all, mk.gee’s was an extremely centered, sparse presentation that saved his musicianship centerstage always. It’s a must-see for live performance lovers, particularly those that search stay expertise over visible pageantry.

See the setlist for mk.gee’s L.A. present on April 24 beneath.

“New Low”

“How Many Miles”

“Dream Police”

“You bought It”

“Rylee & I”

“Dimeback”

“Sweet”

“I Need”

“Are You Trying Up”

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“Alesis”

“Sweet”