Odd Future @ The Electric Factory.

Text and images by Chris Malo.

Frank Ocean wasn’t there. Or Syd the Kid. Or Earl Sweatshirt.

But the rest of the Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All massively took over – or better yet, assaulted Philadelphia on Friday night. Just two days after the release of their long awaited follow up mixtape, The OF Tape, Vol. 2, and the shutdown of their last show in Boston by the police, the Cali collective fed their frenzied fans. The only thing crazier then the group itself is their insatiable fan base.

This wasn’t their first trip to Philly. Their first trip was a wild show at the Barbary, well documented by Mtv. Then, there was a show at the recently opened Union Transfer. By 7pm this past Friday, there was a line around the block of the Electric Factory. Earlier in the day an OFWGKTA pop up shop at Exit Skateshop went down. If you missed it, the OF Sweatshop will be open and have Odd Future merchandise for the rest of the weekend. But back to the show…

About halfway through their U.S. tour, the fact that Tyler the Creator’s voice was shot and even raspier than usual, or the fact his one arm is in a cast (as is Left Brain’s), or the fact that somehow the late March evening was unusually warm and muggy, did not dampen the energy level at all.

I actually got there a little late. Doors opened at 8:30, and I heard they were showing some of their upcoming show on Adult Swim, Loiter Squad. By the time I arrived the show had already started. Walking in, the venue was mobbed. I would venture a guess to say the median age was 17 or 18. This translated to a super-packed floor. (The bar upstairs was pretty empty, requiring 21+ ID. But the merch table, manned by Lucas Vercetti whose face also is plastered on the the drape behind the stage, was packed all evening.).

Hot, sweaty and not giving a fuck, the crowd was a mix of hipsters, skaters, rap fans, preppie kids, suburbanites, black, white, Asian and almost any other demographic you might imagine. (Yes, there was a healthy amount of people rocking Supreme gear, possibly only rivaled by those wearing Odd Future tees.)

The commonality was an allegiance to Odd Future, rapping right along with every track that Tyler, Domo Genesis, Hodgy Beats and Mike G went through, as Taco provided the music. These kids knew their mixtapes. The OF dudes have several different flows, and watching 16-year old girls spit word for word with a frenzied Hodgy was pretty impressive. The biggest surprise of the night was not when people went bonkers when Tyler did the group’s biggest “mainstream” song, “Yonkers” (above), but watching the house go ape-shit when they did “Rella.”

One of the things that is infectious about the Odd Future hype is you can really see that they are all close friends just having fun. There was no set list. They just went with whatever Taco threw on. And at different points, various members of the click climbed up to mess with the Macbook supplying the songs, to pick out something they wanted to do. With so many members in the group, and official and unofficial releases, plus several mixtapes between them, there is a lot of material to choose from. In between songs, there was banter back and forth with the fans. Hodgy and Tyler ended up jumping into the crowd. At one point there was nearly a scuffle but best believe this was a fucking party.

After 90 minutes, the party came to a close. Odd Future puts on a great show. It would be hard to argue anyone left feeling disappointed.