Sunday night, rap/hip-hop legends, Digable Planets, made a long awaited return to Chicago to headline the Metro to celebrate 32 years of their sophomore album, Blowout Comb. They did a great job filling the club on a work night full of people looking to enjoy some great music.
First up was Rich Robbins, who is a local artist. Robbins was joined on stage by a DJ and the duo played some mid-tempo, melodic hip-hop. Some of his songs had actual choruses too and had pop/R&B elements. Robbins talked a lot between songs and came across as very likable. He seemed genuinely appreciative of the opportunity to open for Digable Planets. His set was very enjoyable and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it. For his last two songs, he brought out some guest rappers too, but I didn’t catch their names. Excellent stuff from start to finish.
Digable Planets quickly followed and the people were ready for them. While they are typically a three piece band, in this live setting they were joined by five other musicians, bringing the count to eight total They had a full live band that covered all bases, including guitar, bass, keyboard, samples, drums, and horns. This is a pretty rare thing in rap/hip-hop where most of the backing music is pre-recorded. It was also a really talented collection of musicians, including the three main players, who were set up in the front half of the stage and moved around quite a bit, getting time in the spotlight on all sides of the venue.
After a long sax solo, where the rest of the band took the stage one at a time, the band played the “Creamy Spyz Intro” then went into “Good To Be Here”. The lighting was low and there was a fair amount of fog machine filling the stage, and everything was sounding clear. Digable Planets are one of the early bands to really break out from the traditional template of rap at the time of their debut album, playing more jazz-rap than traditional rap/hip-hop, and that is what makes them so unique and interesting. They helped push the envelope of what hip-hop could be and the people embraced them for it.
Since this tour was celebrating the 32nd anniversary of their second album, Blowout Comb, the setlist leaned heavily on the material from that album, but they also sprinkled in some songs from the first album. They even did a cool cover of “The Message” that they blended into “Where I’m From” which was a lot of fun. It was really cool to see a hip-hop band playing with a full band, which leaned heavily into the jazz influence on Digable Planets. They did a bit of improv in key moments that would lead into one of their songs, and the whole thing really came across wonderfully.
As the band approached the conclusion of their set, they ended the night with a one-two punch of old favorites. First was “Nickel Bag”, followed by their biggest hit, “Rebirth Of Slick”. It was a great way to end a really fun and entertaining set in front of a really appreciative audience, and Digable Planets showed they are still cool like dat, and always will be.
