For the last two decades or so Minneapolis has been the hip hop mecca responsible for feeding artists like Atmosphere and P.O.S. to the indie music scene. Saturday night brought Dessa and Sims – two of the Twin Cities’ finest to a full Record Bar in Kansas City, Mo.
Despite having spent nine hours trekking across the plain glory that is Kansas from Denver, Sims and DJ Ander Other brought enough energy opening the show to make the crowd forget that this it was his last night of his tour. The emcee performed songs like “Bad Time Zoo” and single “Burn it Down,” prompting crowd participation in true hip-hop fashion. He also pulled a slight diss commenting on Kanrocksas Three – a dig at the second-time music festival that never was because of insufficient ticket sales this summer.
Sims brought everything one should expect in a hip hop show – dancing, singing-alongs and fans flashing a wings-like sign with their hands – all while rocking some pretty bad-ass, very healthy looking hair.
The crowd was pumped and ready for Dessa when she hit the stage with support of guitar player Dustin Kiel, singer Aby Wolf on keys, stand-up bassist Sean McPherson, and drummer Joey Van Phillips. This was one of the many nights of her Parts of Speech tour in support of the same-titled album released last month.
She started the night with a chug of her White Russian (or cup of half and half she joked) with the song ‘Children’s Work’ off her 2010 effort A Badly Broken Code. Throughout the show, she performed tracks from all of her releases including ‘Call Off Your Ghost’ and ‘Skeleton Key’ from her latest.
Aby Wolf took over for a song as Dessa jumped off the stage to grab a shot of whiskey, a true testament to her comfort as a musician and ability to share the stage with a fellow singer. The two complemented each other well with their lengthy harmonies throughout the evening.
Dessa’s performance style is intense and sultry, yet friendly with a shot of humor as she got into the crowd on more than one occasion to perform. She joked that she needed someone she could trust to hold her mic when she grabbed a chair to stand on while singing in the crowd. There were times when straight women questioned their sexuality and straight men questioned their masculinity… she’s that good.
After an almost two-hour performance, Dessa firmly grasped a solid fan-base in Kansas City’s sometimes-lame crowds. Those who were already fans were reassured, and those who had never heard her before happily jumped on the Dessa wagon.
Twin Cities, represent.
