Live review: Brockhampton, Tuesday night at the Midland

A mere eight months have elapsed since Brockhampton last visited Kansas City, when its February show at the Truman brought out a sea of superfans eager to hear favorites from its 2017 album trilogy, Saturation. But there has been no shortage of new developments in the camp of “the greatest boy band in the world” since then. 

This past spring, shortly after announcing a record deal with RCA and the group’s fourth album, Brockhampton chose to remove rapper and founding member Ameer Vann following accusations of abuse and sexual misconduct. The group said in statements that it had been lied to and apologized for not acting sooner. Work on the fourth album continued through the summer, and, last month, fans were delivered Iridescence, an album that has achieved near-universal acclaim and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

Despite the new album’s massive success, Tuesday night’s show at the Midland felt more like a (infrared) snapshot of a band in transition rather than an outright coronation. The most direct acknowledgment of the group’s recent controversy was the omission of Vann’s verse from the beloved Saturation single “Star.” The bedlam that the song evoked in February was absent from the get-go, and all remaining firepower seemed to die out as the verse was skipped over. The room filled with murmurs in the silence following the song.

The textures, rhythms, and tones present on the new album are surprisingly mature in comparison to the band’s previous output — so much so that, at times, you wondered whether Brockhampton had perhaps grown up too quickly for its largely teenage fanbase. String arrangements, breakbeats, and sessions at Abbey Road Studios were an influence, according to Kevin Abstract. So was Kid A. The show’s encore (and pre-Iridescence single) “1999 Wildfire” featured R&B grooves that seemed far too sensual and sophisticated for some young ears to appreciate, pulling equally from the playbooks of FutureSex/LoveSounds and Stankonia. It was one moment of many that evoked *shudders* 2000s nostalgia.

There’s a flip side to the awkward moments created by Vann’s absence, which is that the turmoil the band has experienced transformed lyrics that before felt like platitudes into something more meaningful and impactful. The focus of those closely following Brockhampton’s narrative over the last two years was on these dynamics throughout the show, but that didn’t impede on numerous moments of high-energy flexing, coming-of-age balladry, and boy-band antics. Merlyn Woods got his always-frenetic flows off on “Where The Cash At,” and “San Marcos” was an arm-in-arm Britpop sing-along. And Abstract didn’t neglect to shout “Kansas City’s gay!” once or twice — don’t worry folks, he has a boyfriend.

It’s not clear yet if Brockhampton’s music will soon re-align with the age of its fan base, if it will jump again to an even larger venue next time around, or if there are any more obstacles on the horizon. But sometimes — as in Tuesday’s 90-minute set — that lack of clarity is the intriguing engine behind a show.