Daniel Lopatin has relentlessly pushed boundaries with his musical projects under an array of pseudonyms throughout his career. Most notably and recently, under the familiar moniker Oneohtrix Point Never, Lopatin returned home to a sold-out Brooklyn Paramount at the tail end of the Again2 Live 2024 Tour. The city’s newest live music venue packed in early as fans were eager to witness the unique bill of experimental electronic music and stand-up comedy.
Experimentalists Pedagogy (Eli Keszler and Nate Boyce) started off the show. The duo performed a singular piece of music featuring a blend of abstract guitar and synths backed by a complex and ever-evolving drum pattern. The middle spot on the bill went to stand-up comedian and Saturday Night Live regular Sarah Squirm. A sharp contrast from where the night began, Sarah Squirm left the audience aching with laughter at her body horror comedy and Oneohtrix Point Never impersonation.
The buzz from this new Oneohtrix Point Never (OPN) live show was already circulating and became even louder after his appearance at Coachella earlier in April. The new production features live-projected visuals from a puppet on stage. Described in press notes as a “miniature”, the diorama-like apparatus predominately featured a mini OPN figure behind familiar DJ decks, complete with stage lighting and effects. Puppeteer and audio-visual artist Freeka filmed the miniature from up close on an iPhone and live-projected the imagery onto a large LED screen at the back of the stage. The effect was truly mesmerizing to watch as the show went on and the visuals evolved along the way.
Typically at a concert, the goal of the production is to make the artist seem larger than life. In this case, OPN shrunk down to a tiny scale, dominated by the hands of the puppet master, pulling the audience deep into this miniature virtual reality. Even in a room as vast as Brooklyn Paramount, the effect was not lost on the viewers. Freeka and his set-up was right at the front of the stage, giving the crowd a clear view of his hands as they manipulated the puppetry. OPN was pushed further back, blending directly into the projected virtual reality.
The show at Brooklyn Paramount leaned heavily into Oneohtrix Point Never’s recent LP, Again; released late last year on Warp Records. The night kicked off with the title track, before diving deep into most of OPN’s back catalog, including “We’ll Take It” from 2018’s excellent Age Of. At one point during the show, fellow indie artist and collaborator Kurt Vile put his head in the puppet box behind Freeka’s guitar playing hands. The last third of the main set featured a mixed run of tracks from Again before the short break. During the encore, fans were given a treat as OPN collaborator and cellist Mabe Fratti added strings to the mix for the last few songs including “Sleep Dealer” from the iconic 2011 LP Replica.
The Again2 tour is wrapping up this week with a final show on April 29th in Montreal. It’s unclear if Oneohtrix Point Never will continue to perform in a miniature virtual reality world, or if this spectacle will be confined to the recent run of shows. Stay tuned to see where the enigmatic artist goes from here and check out our full photo gallery from Brooklyn Paramount below.
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