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Outkast Slowly Alienated Coachella Crowd

04/14/2014
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(Radio.com) For the duo's first performance together in nearly a decade, Outkast's first of many reunion shows headlining the first night of Coachella 2014 could be summed up in Andre 3000's choice of wardrobe.

Where the more fashionably flamboyant half of the group was notorious for cutting-edge looks next to the relatively more traditionally street wear attired Big Boi, when they took the main stage to close out this year's opening day of the popular desert festival, Andre 3000 looked like he stepped out of 1994 wearing denim overalls, hoodie and baseball cap.

The band's set for the most part was reflective of that same no-frills spirit, running through a selection of deep cuts reaching all the way back to Outkast's 1994 debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.

Anticipation had been running high for Outkast's live return throughout the day, generating a massive crowd crowding around the stage to get a glimpse of the duo side by side. Opening with the bombastic single "B.O.B." from 2000 full-length, Stankonia, the crowd bounced along frantically to the song's rapid-fire beat.

As they settled into the set, however, the deep cuts and throwback tracks slowly seemed to alienate the crowd, hungry for more recognizable hits like "Hey Ya" and "Ms. Jackson."

They would eventually perform both songs, but only after delving into less immediately recognizable material, like "Hootie Hoo," "Elevators (Me & You)" and "Da Art of Storytellin' Pt. 1." It was a set that would have felt much more at home to a heavily hip-hop audience at a Rock the Bells show, as opposed to Coachella goers hungry for the hits.

The show was also the first time the duo performed many of the tracks from their GRAMMY-winning double album, Speakerboxx/The Love Below, playing such album cuts as "Bowtie," "Vibrate" and the dreamy ballad, "Prototype."

While they continued to delve deeper and deeper into the band's catalog, the once-massive crowd steadily began to dissipate, as more casual listeners left for other stages while hardcore fans moved closer to the front. more on this story

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Copyright Radio.com/CBS Local - Excerpted here with permission.

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