Revenge Of The N.E.R.D.
Pharrell Williams gets some (more) exposure
There used to be a dude named Gerald who ran backward through the streets of downtown Atlanta. Maybe you saw him, looking over his left shoulder as he darted in reverse through Marietta Street traffic. On a good day, you might have caught him launching himself backward off the concrete stairs above Centennial Park, pulling freestyle spin moves in midair like an antimatter swan.
Later, you sat down at the Olympic fountain and watched computer-controlled pillars of water dance up and down to the tune of “Coming to America.” Europeans took pictures of themselves in front of random, unremarkable sites, like a Verizon billboard. Meanwhile, Gerald kept running backward, cutting a path through the park bricks and back up the stairs facing east to Luckie Street. ?
On Luckie, the air was heavy with the smell of fresh nylon trucker caps and suede Puma trainers as disciples of rockadelic super-group N.E.R.D. descended upon the Tabernacle. Static cling was like “hell yeah,” as throngs of rayon track jackets brushed by each other in an orgy of positive electrons and racing stripes.?
Inside the former church, opening act Black Eyed Peas had already begun their set, getting all positive-multicultural hip-hop on your fanny. Freestyling MC Will I. Am stomped around the stage in Raggedy Ann stockings and an elongated knit sleeping cap, like a spastic player at an urban slumber party. Female vocalist Fergie was all lo-ride cargo pants and high-pitched vocal aerobics, scatting boisterous trebly texture above Will’s midrange flow. Statuesque hype man Taboo struck statuesque poses, occasionally pumping the air with his lower torso.?
It was the opening night of a long tour (omitting a “Saturday Night Live” appearance two nights prior), and when headliners N.E.R.D. took the stage, it was clear that they had some small details to iron out — like making sure everybody showed up. Always the less conspicuous member of the band, Chad Hugo was extremely inconspicuous on this night, making no appearance at all. It was up to the hardest working man in show business, Pharrell Williams, to pimp the wares of the new N.E.R.D. album, Fly Or Die, which hits streets Tuesday, March 23.?
Williams hit the stage in his signature red admiral’s jacket, flanked by supporting N.E.R.D. vocalist Shay Haley. The diverse audience members bobbed their heads courteously as Williams and Haley worked through some cuts from the new album before setting things off with the banging N.E.R.D. staple “Brain.”?
Riding a wave of both popular and underground-ish approval — they are scheduled to make an appearance at indie music jamboree South by Southwest in Austin, Texas — N.E.R.D. pulled in a head-scratching assortment of fans. Scanning the crowd: At 1 o’clock, angular pop-locking white boy with rascal-librarian cardigan. At 3 o’clock, Steve from Equifax and his girlfriend. (They left early to beat traffic.) At 9 o’clock, swooning 18-year-old Pharrell fans, tearing up when the frontman took off his shirt. At 11 o’clock, Akademiks-clad ATL heads. Despite the disparities, a good time was had by all.?
True to the hybrid rock/rap/soul stylings of N.E.R.D., Pharrell worked the stage with the split personalities of swaggering MC/amped rock star/lead singer and seductive soul crooner. On the hit “Rock Star” from their debut, In Search Of ..., a screw-faced Pharrell baited the audience, leaping up and down over crunchy power chords like a spring-loaded stick man. “Run to the Sun” showcased a more sensitive singer, as Williams sang in the cracking high lullaby voice that has become something of his trademark.?
On a new song, Pharrell sang, “Shit happens, just shake it off.” It was advice he seemed to take to heart on a night when he was missing his running partner, but Pharrell still flowed with casual grace and electric charm.