Arizona gets the cream of the crop when it comes to post-Coachella gigs and Omar Apollo’s visit to The Van Buren this week was another entry in a long list of special moments.
The Desvelado Tour also featured Tora-i and Deb Never, two equally stunning women who turned the Phoenix crowd all the way up before Apollo took the stage. Tora-i’s brand of sweet, sultry pop elicited plenty of cheers as she took us all the way back to London with her lyrics. Deb Never brought the rock ‘n’ roll with powerful guitars and high flying vocals- she was undoubtedly the coolest girl in the room.
Fans draped the barricade in pride flags and Mexican flags while those further back held handmade signs and cheered themselves hoarse when Apollo took command of the stage. The sold out room immediately sang along to “Talk”, “Erase” and “Ugotme” before Apollo jumped into material off his brand new album, Ivory.
This record may be less than a month old, but the fans knew every word to “Killing Me” and “No Good Reason”. Apollo, for his part, was magnetic onstage, joking with the crowd while reading their cheeky signs and making everyone swoon with his confident dance moves. About halfway through the night, Apollo had a moment to “get Mexican up in this bitch” for an acoustic trio of “En El Olvido”, “Dos Uno Nueve” and “Frio”. Language was no barrier at this show- the room knew the lyrics in English and Spanish and were more than happy to put their phone lights up and sing along.
“Tamagotchi” saw Apollo get weird with the music, bathing the stage in green lights while his band paraded up and down with huge Mexican flags. By this point, Apollo had shed his electric blue jacket and the crowd successfully peer pressured him into removing his tank top before the encore as well (to the obvious delight of both singer and fans).
The audience was so mesmerized by Apollo’s performance that his declaration of one last song came as quite a shock. Thankfully, he returned for a stunning encore performance before fans rushed to the merch table and spilled into the streets already talking about Apollo’s next visit to Phoenix.
Check out all the photos from the show!
Story and photos by Olivia Khiel
