Photos by: Lindsey Blane
Joji made his way to Los Angeles this past weekend for his Smithereens Oblivion three-city
tour. Openers Savagerealm and Lil Toe (Ammo) started off the night at The Kia Forum as the crowd
got settled in. Before you knew it, it was time for Rei Brown, the final opener of the night,
which got everyone on their feet and amped up for when Joji got on. The stage setup had five
huge cubes hanging overhead playing the visuals for each song and he had his band on either
side of him, including opener Savagerealm as his MC. Joji started off his set with songs
‘Sanctuary’, ‘YEAH RIGHT’, and ‘NIGHT RIDER’; one song from each of his past three albums.
At some point during this first half of the set, he mentioned to the crowd that it was time for the
seventy-fifth annual Jack Off, to which he brought out a group off impersonators to do their best
Jack Sparrow act, after which the crowd voted for who they liked best. The show was then back
on with ‘worldstar money (interlude)’, and ‘I Don’t Wanna Waste My Time’, a few songs from his
2018 album In Tongues (Deluxe).
Joji then left the stage for a timed “bathroom break” for which the crowd chanted at him to
“Wash Your Hands! Wash Your Hands!…” During this show intermission, Joji came back on stage
with his face covered for YEBI LABS, which is what I can only describe as a DJ set at a nightclub
that remixed a few of Joji’s song with hit songs like Lil Uzi Vert’s hit ‘Just Wanna Rock.’ While I
personally wasn’t a big fan of the style of the intermission, it certainly did feel like it sent the
crowd into oblivion, with everyone on their feet jumping around and singing and lasers going off
in every direction.
It was now time for the last half of the set with hit songs like ‘Like You Do’, ’Afterthought’, and
‘Gimme Love’ from his 2018 album Nectar. For the encore to end the night, Joji performed
both an acoustic and reprise version of ‘SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK’ and then ‘Glimpse of
Us.’
This was my third time seeing Joji live and it never disappoints, so make sure to catch him live if
you ever get a chance.
