“Forest Hillllllls! How the f— are yaaaa?! We’re Khruangbin and we’re here to rock the f— out! Let’s get wild!”
No, that’s not how Mark Speer (guitar), Laura Lee Ochoa (bass), and Donald “DJ” Johnson (drums) started their Friday and Saturday shows at Forest Hills Stadium, the former home of the U.S. Open nestled in a quasi-suburban neighborhood in Queens, NY. If you know anything about Khruangbin, the hard-to-place trio from Houston, TX, you know that the clichéd, high-energy, stadium-rock bravado of the fabricated quote above is the antithesis of this peculiar band’s M.O.
How, then, did this chillest of chill-vibes bands handle a stadium setting? By being super chill, of course.
At both shows, as they have throughout the tour, Khruangbin spent the first half of the night working through the band’s latest album, A La Sala, in its entirety. Mark and Laura took long, slow, deliberate strides as they played, their movements strangely synchronized as they prowled opposite ends of the stage. Their body language spoke volumes even if they didn’t, conveying an air of romanticism and regal theatricality via physical restraint. The animated weekend audience at times seemed too energetic for the calming currents of A La Sala—have you ever seen a stadium crowd do the wave to ambient, instrumental music? I hadn’t, either, until Friday night—but the serenity invoked by the trio and its mix of familiar and far-away sounds never dissipated for long.
DJ, ever the most stoic member in a band defined by stoicism, presided from his simple drum kit on a tiered platform at the foot of the stage’s stark yet welcoming focal point, a section of a stone wall adorned with three arched windows. Those windows offered an extra plane for the watercolor-like stage lighting to accentuate, allowing the at-times plain edifice to come alive with layers of color and detail (the projections on the front of the building, the projections behind the building, the splashes of detail peering through the windows, the classic stage lights from above). At one point, a red-orange sun appeared to set over the structure. At another, it was cloaked in a twinkling, starry sky.
Related: The Story of Khruangbin: Global Sounds, Sonic Journeys, & “All That Rad Sh*t” [Interview]
After rounding out A La Sala and briefly departing the stage to the sounds and scenes of a soothing rain shower, the band returned each night for an anything-goes segment featuring selections from throughout the Khruangbin repertoire. Friday’s crowd got takes on “Friday Morning”, “Mr. White”, “August Twelve”, “Dern Kala”, “So We Won’t Forget”, “Evan Finds the Third Room”, and “María También” ahead of a three-song encore of “White Gloves” (featuring opener Men I Trust‘s Emma Proulx), “Time (You and I)”, and “People Everywhere (Still Alive)”; Saturday’s audience was treated to “The Number 3”, “August 10”, “Lady and Man”, “The Infamous Bill”, “Pelota”, “Evan Finds the Third Room”, and “Time (You and I)” ahead of an encore trio of “Dearest Alfred” (once again with Proulx on backing vocals), “María También”, and “People Everywhere (Still Alive)”.
While the mostly-instrumental sounds never moved too far from the band’s easy-does-it sweet spot, the crowd reactions swelled steadily to each successive familiar cut. The well-crafted setlists channeled that time-release excitement, saving the band’s most energizing selections for the ramp-up to the big finish and stringing them together in creative ways to the delight a clearly in-the-know congregation. By the end of each show, it didn’t matter that the music was “chill”—the elated crowd was dancing, the cheers were deafening, the air felt thick with the remnants of something supernatural as the house lights finally flipped on.
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The juxtaposition of new and familiar seemed to strike a perfect balance at the two stadium shows. With the A La Sala set, Khruangbin drew the gathered revelers into a trance, brought them into the group’s trademark daze. With the rest, the band gradually awakened them, accenting the evening’s sonic journey to powerful effect. No, this wasn’t your typical, blood-pumping stadium rock show, but the creativity and vision of this singular project surely made it a trip worth taking.
Below, view the full setlists from both Khruangbin Forest Hills Stadium shows, watch a selection of fan-shot videos from both nights, and check out a gallery of photos from Saturday night via Maggie Miles.
The ongoing U.S. leg of the Khruangbin A La Sala Tour is due to continue throughout the rest of this month and into October before the band heads overseas later this fall. For ticketing details and a list of upcoming dates, head here.
Khruangbin – “Ada Jean” – 9/20/24
[Video: LyndaChill]
