Macklemore and DJ Ryan Lewis showcased their talents at George Washington University.
In a rap world where much is made of ego and cockiness, 29-year-old rapper Macklemore stands out as an artist broadcasting something very pure.
At least, that’s how it felt Sunday afternoon, when the rapper, joined by Ryan Lewis, played to a crowd of 5,000 on George Washington University’s University Yard.
The duo was preceded by indie rock group Walk the Moon. Lead singer Nicholas Petricca exuded a kind of tribal energy, from the war paint on his face to the primal shrieks he emitted between songs, which only added to the excitement portrayed in the band’s upbeat songs and helped build energy for Macklemore’s set.
Macklemore approached the stage as if it was a podium, an opportunity to not only sing but just to talk, stopping between every song to explain the next, compliment the crowd or reveal his plans to meet President Obama — the initial plan involved heavy use of a Twitter hashtag #ObamacallMacklemore, but it evolved into a scheme that involved all of the GW students in one black Cadillac, purchased from Craigslist, and headed to the White House with Kevin Spacey, who would act as a negotiator.
He talked at length about marriage equality and gay rights before and after rocking his single “Same Love,” calling the issue “the civil rights movement of our generation” and praising the group of college students standing before him for being part of a generation that is more tolerant of one another.
His personality shone through in his songs as well. He is unafraid to talk about his childhood, pointing to trials and triumphs from his youth and penning an ode to a fixture from his youth, Seattle baseball sportscaster Dave Niehaus.
He wasn’t all serious, though. He came out wearing a beat-up green colonial military-style jacket he said he wore to dress up like the first president of the United States, after whom the school was named. He took a selfie with the crowd on a phone that one member of the crowd threw onstage and began the encore in a blonde curly wig and a silver cape singing the chorus to his song “And We Danced,” in a dramatic faux British accent, likely as a nod to the song’s inspiration, David Bowie.
This quirkiness was also present in other songs, especially his big hit, “Thrift Shop,” which produced some cognitive dissonance amid an audience of thousands of people on a campus consistently ranked as among the priciest in the country.
Interestingly enough, his backing music consisted of Lewis’ DJ gear and a lone trumpet player/cymbal crasher who rocked a tasty brass solo early on in the set. They played mostly songs from their most recent album, The Heist, but dropped in a few from earlier albums, such as “Life is a Cinema,” which samples the Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done” and is accessible even to those who haven’t heard the song before.
It is clear Macklemore loves what he does, and it creates an energy that emanates from him and into the crowd, whose enthusiasm remained high during the entire hour-and-a-half-long set even though he played through most of his big hits within the first 45 minutes. In all, it was a show well worth seeing, and maybe someday Obama will feel the same way.
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