I never understood the appeal of Slip \u2018N Slides. Even as a kid, the idea of throwing my body full force onto a tarp covered in an amalgamation of other people\u2019s sweat, skin and scattered grass clippings wasn\u2019t a super inviting concept.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, hypocrite that I am, I\u2019m going to spend the rest of this article talking about JID\u2019s recent concert at The Masonic \u2014 and how my experience surrounded by a bunch of sweaty moshers scream-singing along to his songs was one of the best experiences of the season.<\/p>\n
After validating my comped floor ticket at will call, I shuffled around the interior of the Masonic and tried to gauge my surroundings. On all sides, there were people from every part of the Bay \u2014 mostly 20-something year old students \u2014 jumping all over the place trying to get to the front of a growing mass of attendees. Entering the theater where the performance took place, all I could hear was belting laughter and cheers; smartphone flashlights and excited expressions were all I could see.<\/p>\n
It would be another hour or two before the main event took the stage, but there were already ecstatic hushed conversations spreading about the openers. As soon as the whispers rose, the speakers boomed and the first opening act took the stage.<\/p>\n
For the next hour or so, all the concert-goers on the floor stage screamed along to the music, crowdsurfed their friends to the front and opened up the center to mosh over and over. During Young Nudy\u2019s special guest appearance, the fervor and chaos on the floor didn\u2019t stop people from trying to help others out. More than once, a dozen at a time shouted that they found someone\u2019s lost shoe, phone or wallet and once returned to their rightful owners, everyone in the pit would roar with appreciation and satisfaction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then it was time. As the openers retreated and the lights were set on the backstage, the anticipation building in the audience was palpable enough to fill in the core of my being \u2014 or maybe that\u2019s just the bass from the speakers hitting your ribs, who knows.<\/p>\n
Either way, as JID jumped out and began performing the top songs from his most recent album \u201cGod Does Like Ugly,\u201d he commanded the attention of every single person in that auditorium. From the comfort of the recline-seating in the balcony to the chaos of the front rows of the mosh pit, everyone was screaming along to hit after hit, from \u201cGlory\u201d to \u201cCommunity\u201d to \u201cWRK.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the initial hype died down, JID brought it back with a mellow, emotional performance of \u201cKody Blu 31,\u201d a song about grief to contrast the upbeat high-octane songs from before. Naturally, a cascade of lights from people\u2019s phones waved across the pit and the balcony, smoothly flowing as everyone sang along lyric by lyric. You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find someone in the audience who didn\u2019t have their eyes shut, phone in the air, singing along with full enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
Water was passed around at this point, and it was clear that the people needed something to rile them back up to the energy from before. With \u201cRaydar,\u201d JID did just that. As if nothing had changed, the crowd was once again emptying space in the middle of the pit in preparation for the beat drop, only to rush the center all at once and scream-sing along.<\/p>\n
This cycle continued on with hits from across JID\u2019s discography, from his \u2014 as of yet \u2014 most popular \u201cThe Forever Story\u201d to some of his earlier work. At no point did the enthusiasm drop in the auditorium, and if a lull ever emerged between songs, it was always interrupted by someone whooping excitedly with enough voice cracks to rival that of a pubescent middle-schooler.<\/p>\n
Post-performance, the audience shuffled out as excitedly as they entered. Many stopped to take photos and talk to friends they had made within the most pit, and others rushed a headcount of their party to get out before traffic got too bad. No matter what, there wasn\u2019t a look of boredom or flatness on anyone\u2019s face. Even after spending hours in the middle of a palpitating human Slip \u2018n Slide, the exhaustion etched into concert-goers\u2019 expressions was one of delight, not weariness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I never understood the appeal of Slip \u2018N Slides. Even as a kid, the idea of throwing my…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[17876,45556,9864,45553,45554,45555,1406,27967,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-79276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-concert","tag-god-does-like-ugly","tag-hip-hop","tag-jid","tag-masonic","tag-mosh-pit","tag-performance","tag-rap","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}