Review: K.Flay showcases musical talent, vulnerability at 'high-energy' show at Skully's
Adam Jardy
It took K. Flay about 15 minutes to get to the heart of what fueled her sold-out show at Skully’s Music-Diner on Thursday night.
Having just punctuated the staccato of “Black Wave,” Flay picked up a guitar and asked for a show of hands from her fans after asking a straightforward question: How many people here think of themselves as weird or strange? When met with a nearly universal response of arms outstretched to the ceiling, Flay dedicated the next song to "all of you (expletive) weirdos" and appropriately launched into “Weirdo,” a single from her 2021 EP, “Nothing Can Kill Us.”
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Bathed in green light, Flay showed off another side of her talent, showcasing not only her ability to rap but her ability to borderline croon. And on this night, whether she was rapping, singing, pounding out rhythms on the bass guitar, filling out songs with the electric guitar or flailing her arms and pogo-ing to the beat, the two-time Grammy-nominated artist could do little wrong during her 17-song set that lasted a little more than an hour.
From opener “The President Has A Sex Tape” to closer “High Enough,” which turned into a singalong, Flay seldom let up save to tell the occasional story. And from praising Columbus, which she described as “apparently the (14th) biggest city in the United States,” to introducing a handful of songs from her new album, Flay was in full control of the evening from the moment the lights first dropped.
Flay’s breakthrough hit, “Blood in the Cut,” was slotted neatly into the middle of the set. Its opening bass riff was delivered with the lights off, and the instrumental breakdown at the midpoint of the song afforded the three-piece band to break into a spot-on cover of Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls on Parade.” After returning to her own hit and finishing it off to widespread applause, and noting that her headbanging had caused her to eat a lot of her own hair during the concert, Flay changed tones and shared her recent medical journey with the crowd.
It was about six months ago that Flay woke up one morning having inexplicably and permanently lost her hearing in her right ear. As a heavy quiet fell over the crowd, Flay said she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to tour again and had wondered if her latest album would be able to be completed. The lesson, she said, is that “there is a future that looks different.”
That led into the night’s most tender moment, the acoustic “Maybe There’s A Way,” performed with Flay seated next to her guitarist. Eyes closed as she sang out the chorus, “Lately all I do is fall/But when my head hits the ground/And my bones don't break/I say, ‘Hey, wait, maybe I'm OK,’” it was a surprisingly touching outlier in an otherwise high-energy, high-volume rock show that borrowed from seemingly every milestone since her debut release in 2009. She did it with minimal flair or props: the stage simply featured a black backdrop with "K.Flay" projected in solid white letters.
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There were nods to the next step, too. Flay was able to finish recording the album she was making when struck with her hearing loss, and she announced this week that it will be released this September. Appropriately named “Mono,” it was represented Thursday night by three songs: lead single, “Raw Raw,” new single, “Shy,” and another track, “Punisher.”
While wielding a hot pink bass guitar, Flay, who is a Chicago native, described “Shy” as “a mix of Midwestern shyness and wildness.” Moments later, she finished off the night with “High Enough,” plenty of which was recorded via dozens of cell phones held aloft to capture the moment for posterity before she bowed, arm-in-arm with her bandmates, and exited around 10:25 p.m.
Opening band Betcha provided more than adequate support. A four-man band from Nashville, lead singer Charlie Greene’s ability to carry choruses with his falsetto and rock out to others in a more modest range left a few fans chanting for one more song after the band's half-hour set drew to a close. Their debut album, “Placebo,” will be released Aug. 25.