Odd Future’s energy brings down the house at Metro

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Tyler The Creator of Odd Future perform during Odd Future's afternoon set at Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park. | Tom Cruze~Sun-Times

Updated: December 3, 2011 8:04AM

When OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All) was booked as part of Pitchfork Music Festival this past summer, it stirred up one of the biggest controversies Chicago has seen not involving a Bears quarterback. Everybody had an opinion on the hip-hop group’s offensive lyrics, which feature violent imagery and misogynistic and homophobic rhymes.

Yet in the weeks leading up to Odd Future’s return, there wasn’t much said or written. Perhaps the hype had dissipated, or maybe it was because they weren’t performing as part of a major festival.

But when Odd Future took the stage on Friday night to a sold-out crowd at Chicago’s Metro, its members still performed as if it was them versus the world.

Though Odd Future is a parent’s worst nightmare, the show’s audience was largely comprised of young teens and adolescents. This combination of a youthful audience and young performers, the oldest of Odd Future’s members are in their early 20s, proved the catalyst for a rowdy but entertaining show.

No, Odd Future has not matured one bit since its last Chicago visit. Every other word was still an expletive and middle fingers were constantly hoisted in the air. Occasionally, the show even resembled a punk rock or heavy metal gig with fans crowd surfing onto the stage and randomly forming mosh pits on the floor.

The audience was simply trying to match Odd Future’s unrelenting energy. During “Radical,” which comes from group leader Tyler the Creator’s solo disc “Goblin,” member Hodgy Beats and Tyler himself furiously thrashed around the stage. Meanwhile, the crowd shouted the song’s highly explicit refrain, “Kill people, burn s---, f--- school,” as if it were a big rock ’n’ roll hook.

What really pushed the show over the edge, however, was DJ Syd Tha Kid. At Pitchfork Music Festival, the outdoors didn’t do justice to Odd Future’s booming, droning beats. This time, the Metro’s walls amplified their power making the minimalistic rhythms of “Sandwitches” and the gritty tones of “F--- The Police” (the Hodgy Beats original, not the NWA classic) especially abrasive and terrifying.

Friday night’s show proved that whether hip-hop needs a group of bad boys or not, Odd Future can play the role quite well.