Atmosphere Helps L.A. ‘Find A Balance’ at The Shrine With Dilated Peoples and Others

Matt Corkill

In looking at the large mass of people gathered outside, it would have been easy to think that it was over capacity, but there wasn’t a care in the world at the Shrine Auditorium Saturday night, as fans were treated to a variety of Rhymesayer headlining acts with Dem Atlas, Brother Ali, Aesop Rock, Dilated Peoples before closing with Slug and Ant.

Dem Atlas opened the evening, jumping around the stage (he gets some serious air) before Brother Ali hopped up next, with another great performance. Ali had a very politically charged set, taking multiple shots at Donald Trump and cracking jokes about how he needed to be careful not to get on the news for accidentally converting 6000 people to Islam. Aesop Rock followed in full speed with such songs as “No Shall Pass” and “Dorks,” from his new album “The Impossible Kid.”

Dilated Peoples showed nothing but love having fans jump and bounce as they played hits like “This Way” and others off of their recent album, “Directors of Photography”.  

Atmosphere closed the night in their typical high energy style with Slug center stage. Coming out to a sea of bubbles that had the crowd going wild, rapper Sean Daley (Slug) and DJ/producer Anthony Davis (Ant) treated fans to tracks off of their new “Fishing Blues” album such as “No Biggie” and “Perfect,” while bringing it back for everyone’s favorites like “F*** You Lucy,” “Puppets,” “God Loves Ugly,” and “Yesterday,” which even had some tears flowing within the audience. Slug took moments to talk about how thankful and lucky he is to be there with fans that have supported him throughout the years. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the entire USC campus could hear the crowd screaming “life” after Slug sang “love” during “Lovelife.”

Atmosphere‘s “Fishing Blues” tour took over Shrine Auditorium Sept. 24.