EarlWolf At Koko Was A Great Night Out, Minus the Bodily Fluids

The sold out EarlWolf show last Wednesday at Koko was Earl Sweatshirt's first time performing a headline show in London. Earl Sweatshirt's debut album Doris, had only been released the day before. I was expecting a rowdy, semi-apocalyptic show crammed full of angsty humans ready to kick the shit out of each other. That, and a lot of bodily fluids.

I had placed Odd Future (and their various offshoots) in the same live performance category as The Black Lips, Bloodhound Gang, and Slipknot. Sweat, piss, blood, cum and shit were all on the table. I thought bodies would be falling from the sky; at gigs in Vancouver and SXSW people had been jumping from rooftops, and crowd-surfing off 20 foot balconies. Looking up at the three tiers of Koko, I was excited to find out who had the nerve to make the leap. (As it turns out, Londoners are pussies and everyone stayed on their respective levels).

Wolf cries filled the room as Taco warmed up the heaving crowd with MIA, Kendrick and Chief Keef. Tyler bounced on stage, rasping deeply into the microphone. Earl followed, and they led with the bass- heavy “Drop”, then “Sam”. From Doris, they played new track “Molasses”.

Quick to involve the crowd, Earl had the whole place shouting “I'll fuck the freckles off your face bitch”- which, as someone with a face full of freckles, I was super down with. I inched closer and closer to the danger zone up front. The crowd was animalistic, chanting along to the lyrics of each track. I watched as a group of six people wrestled over Tyler's sweaty towel; they ending up harnessing their inner wolves, tearing it to shreds with their teeth and sharing it between the lot of them. I was so caught up in the buzz that I was tempted to get involved with the crowd-surfing action. This says a lot, as the idea hasn't crossed my mind in at least 10 years.

With an uncharacteristic disco ball flying overhead the show was a massive big up to Earl. He had Koko fully turnt up. Bouncing off the energetic vibes of Tyler, and getting hyped by Jasper and Taco, Earl's swag grew more and more throughout the set. On record Earl's songs can be lumbering and dark, but live he dropped them with so much force and energy it kept the pace pumping.

I wasn't expecting to see any kind of sweetness in the show, but there was a lot of love on stage between the two frontmen. Tyler acted like a proud big brother, repeatedly calling out “It's Earl's day”, and offering encouragement and some teasing. I never thought I'd say this about an EarlWolf show, but it was cute: a bit of a love-fest as they celebrated the release of the prodigal son's album. I've always seen the Odd Future pack on the sinister edge of hip-hop, with Earl being the darkest of them all. But there was no denying the ecstatic, upbeat energy on stage. You couldn't have made the lights low enough to downcast the vibe.