We got there late, running over from the just-finished Awonlation show up the street. The crew had already run through each of their solo performances on the tiny Karma Lounge stage in the heart of Austin, and Mike Mictlan was just tying up his spitfire inkwell rattle. We cozied up to the left side of the stage and prepared for what we expected to be a killer Doomtree performance.
We didn’t get a “killer” performance. What we got was a sledgehammer to the soul, a rewiring of rap-crew values & live execution. Doomtree has leveled up in a way that had jaws slamming off the floor, revitalized by their brand-new and tremendously good album All Hands. And with Doomtree playing alongside Action Bronson and more at Crave’s March 21st SXSW blowout party, we could not be more excited.
You don’t know rap crew chemistry until you see Doomtree onstage. P.O.S., Dessa, Cecil Otter, Sims, Mike Mictlan, Lazerbeak and Paper Tiger brought an airtight narrative of passion, positivity and perseverance through the PA was they interwove their dance patterns onstage, rotating placement with verse prominence while leaning on one another, messing with each other and having a riot of a good time together.
The new material was already on lyrical lockdown by the crowd, who flared along through crushing All Hands opener “Final Boss”. “Gray Duck” was celebrated like a superhero, and the buzz-throb intensity of “Beastface” brought deep hip sway and waving hands for days – particularly that badass chorus.
“Team The Best Team” was pulled right out of a movie, the champion-moment apex of a long struggle of undying fire. When you’re getting goosebumps writing about a moment 12 hours after it happened, chances are it’s not going to fade from the memory radar anytime soon.
I thought that was the end, the high-note conclusion to a spectacular performance. But then “Bangarang” began, the entire crew hit the pit for a jump-along dance party, and this happened:
May you all experience the exhilaration of holding up a member of Doomtree with Dessa and P.O.S. helping by your side, gleaming eyes and wild smiles as you all sing along.
It’s not even fair, what Crave is about to do to SXSW. Watching the darkened horizon to the West from this balcony perch in the heart of Austin, there’s an electricity in the air that guarantees a serious storm is brewing.
Oh, can we relate.
