First Time Fridays - Freudian, a World Tour

Shockingly, I didn’t attend my first gig until last year. It was a Christmas present from my boyfriend. He hadn’t got the ticket yet so he printed off a picture of Daniel Caesar and wrote on the back “1 x admission to Daniel Caesar at the O2 Academy Birmingham, 3rd of February 2018”. He’d tried his best to keep it a secret but I had guessed he’d got tickets a while back and I was so excited to finally be going to my first concert, even if I was a little embarrassed to admit that.

Daniel Caesar performing at the O2 Institute in Birmingham, 2018.

It was a pretty intimate gig, but packed out no doubt. Snoh Aalegra was his special guest, but only for the American leg of his tour, which I was a bit sad about, but the DJ set beforehand got the crowd hyped. He played tune after tune and the room started to feel more like a club than a live-music venue. After what seemed like long enough waiting for him to appear, Daniel Caesar finally came on stage, singing ‘Violet’. It was the first time I had ever felt star-struck (bit cringe I know) and it was also the first time I had listened to some of my favourite songs being played live.

Even though you always know what you’re going to get at a gig, the feeling of being there, in the same room as someone who you’ve been playing on repeat, always hits me out of nowhere. There’s just something so incomparable and special about belting out the words to the song along with the artist who wrote them, and looking around and seeing everyone else doing the same.

Daniel played most of the songs off his then newly-released debut album Freudian, which gave name and purpose to his first world tour. It’s a beautiful, chilled out, soulful album which features artists such as Kali Uchis, Syd and H.E.R. providing some sweet harmonies. I would prescribe this album as the perfect soundtrack to a lazy Sunday morning. Breakfast in bed, sunrise peeking through the curtains, a cup of warm coffee in your hands, that kind of thing.

As a live performance, it provided some nice ups and downs, with the audience swaying calmly for one song, and then the next, practically clambering on the barriers. It kind of struck me that Daniel was so composed when leaning into the audience and there were people desperately grabbing at his hoodie and touching his face. It made me feel relieved that I was a few rows back from the bustling front row.

One of the songs that had a big impact on me that night was ‘We find love’. It was one of my firm favourites off the album and it sounded even better live. It’s hard to not get emotional when you’re overwhelmed by your surroundings already and then THAT song comes on, but I think it was an emotional experience for me as whole anyway. When he stepped off stage and the lights went up I remember thinking that he hadn’t been onstage five minutes. “It’s over already?!” I said to my boyfriend, but I guess I just lost track of everything once the music started playing.

Daniel Caesar performing at the O2 Institute in Birmingham, 2018.

I think this first gig definitely gave me the bug for wanting to see more artists live, and since the Freudian Tour, I have seen Jorja Smith on her first world tour at Rock City, and booked to see Joy Crookes at the Jazz Café, London in April this year. Every concert experience is different and meaningful in a way, but Daniel Caesar will always go down as the most influential to me and my love of live music.

- Kezia

Listen to the Freudian album here.