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Then again, I’m eager to see one of the hip-hop acts in part because of a fond memory of the first time I saw the group in concert. Nearly a decade ago I went to Warped Tour** with the explicit intention of seeing only a few bands, including the Minneapolis indie-rap outfit Atmosphere, which at the time was on the rise after releasing Seven’s Travels. I’d been mildly obsessed with that album, or at least what little of that album I could hear with a LimeWire account and a dial-up Internet connection. I pored over tracks such as “Reflections,” “National Disgrace,” and (of course) “Trying to Find a Balance,” rapping them a cappella to friends between bites of lunch during my senior year of high school. If seeing Atmosphere meant I had to spend a summer day listening to a bunch of tepid mall-punk bands bash away for several hours, so be it.
When the time came for Atmosphere to take the stage that afternoon, sound issues made it seem like it wouldn’t happen at all—if I recall correctly, Slug told the crowd the root of the problem came from someone spilling beer on the soundboard. Rather than be deterred, Slug announced he’d spend Atmosphere’s set surrounded by the crowd and hopped offstage, mike in hand, to join his fans, who quickly cleared paths for the MC as he waded through the pack of sweaty listeners. Slug moved as easily as he rapped, though he ended up spending most of the set comfortably parked near me.
**Yes, I went to Warped Tour. On multiple occasions, actually. The main background on my Twitter profile is actually a photo I took of P.O.S. rapping at Warped Tour in the summer of 2009.
