PHOTO: Carolyn Manney

Saul Williams
The Niggy Tardust Experience
Afropunk Tour 2009 @ Neumos, Seattle


“...you just go with it, immersed in the theater of
the presentation—the face paint, feathers, glitter
& capes—until all of a sudden it's over and you
don't quite know how to digest it.”

The first ever national Afropunk tour made its way to Seattle on Monday night for one of their last shows before they head back to New York City. The lineup featured American Fangs, Earl Greyhound and headliner, Saul Williams. 

Williams performance was both powerful and fierce—his approach changing many times throughout the hour-long set, depending on the song. I found it hard to categorize both him and his music, something he's probably worked hard to keep that way. He is neither a rapper nor a poet, rather he is both as well as an actor, singer, writer and performance artist. His work stretches and blurs the boundaries of what we consider to be traditional hip-hop and spoken word. He sings, speaks, yells, screams and whispers sometimes all at once, or so it seems when you're caught up in the emotion of his performance.

It is a performance that does not let you stand still, whether you're a die hard fan or not, you find yourself being taken along for the ride from the very start of the show without a second to think. He doesn't leave room for you to contemplate how you feel about his music, you just go with it immersed in the theater of the presentation—the face paint, feathers, glitter & capes—until all of a sudden it's over and you don't quite know how to digest it. 

The crowd was as much a part of the show as Williams, reciting the lines word-for-word from the hit track "List of Demands (Reparations)" off his 2008 album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! At the end of the set, Williams jumped off the stage and into the crowd, shaking hands and hugging his way through the audience only to be beckoned back for an encore when the crowd started clapping and pounding their feet on the floor for almost 5 minutes. The night ended with Williams rendition of U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday," the lead singer of American Fangs joining him onstage bidding a final farewell to this first US tour. 

It's hard to categorize Afropunk in terms of genres, the sounds draw upon a wide range of influences from glam rock to punk to grunge, metal, and beyond. But these three bands worked cohesively on one bill even though each had a very different sound. Their individual and collective uniqueness just begins to define what Afropunk really is. 

REVIEWED BY CAROLYN MANNEY


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