Thundercat’s bubbly, loving, passionate, and whimsical manner makes him a reliably enjoyable act to witness. 

On October 19, he played to a sold-out crowd at The Anthem in D.C. and was warmly welcomed to the stage by a crowd singing happy birthday to him.

It set the stage for a beautiful night, where Thundercat’s launches into six-string bass hyperspace were complemented by his playful falsetto voice and quips between songs.

The show had a psychedelic nature; a massive blowup Thundercat with glowing eyes and six-pack abs was an appropriately silly backdrop to Thundercat’s winding improvisational riffs.

Between his improvisation and high-tempo dance sections of well-known songs, his show can be hard to keep up with. But he did well to give the audience (and his fingers) breathers between songs, quipping about anime, Japan, and cats throughout the show.

He took a somber moment to remember loved ones that have passed, naming Mac Miller, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and his keyboardist’s cat, Hamilton as particularly difficult losses of late.

Thundercat did well to play crowd-pleasers alongside some older tracks. Notably, he played “Dragonball Durag,” fairly early in the set, and didn’t receive quite the energy that “Funny Thing” and “Friend Zone” got during the meat of the show.

He ended the show on “Them Changes” and came back for an encore to play “No More Lies,” his recent single with Tame Impala.

There’s no question that Thundercat is a complex individual that plays an entertaining and emotionally evocative set. He’s not one to miss.