Photos and Review by Christina Hernandez
Shortly before her amazing second weekend Coachella performance, Willow, along with Yves Tumor, made an appearance at the popular Fox Theater Pomona to highlight her recently released album <Coping Mechanism>. The opening act, Yves Tumor, is known to be a well-rounded producer for experimental music, which showed with their opening setlist. Yves came out to the excited crowd of people and opened with an awe-inspiring performance of God is a Circle. With this being the first song, one can only imagine what the rest of the show would bring. Yves, originally from Florida, is now based in Italy. With Italy being where Maneskin is from, it's clear that Italy is bringing out the best of the best of musical inspiration. Although Maneskin isn't the same style as Yves, they're both experimental with their music, and it's clearly working. Yves wore an amazing top that was relatable to many of the fans; it read, "Fuck you, you fucking fuck."
Continuing their opening, Yves also sang some of their popular songs, like Echolalia, Heaven Surrounds Us Like a Hood and even Kerosene! Fans cheered them on as the set came to an end, even though they wanted more. You could hear the excitement from the crowd for Willow, and many were anticipating an amazing show, which did indeed happen. As soon as the venue went pitch-black, the crowd went wild, screaming for Willow to come out, and as soon as she did, the show kicked off in grand fashion with Transparent Soul, which was a crowd favorite, including myself. Everyone had finally gotten the show starter they had been looking forward to the entire day. Willow wore a casual outfit that matched the vibe that her fans were giving off as they sang as loud as they could with her. The daughter of Will Smith, who initially gained fame for her pop-dance anthem, Whip My Hair, thirteen years ago, has been on a journey of shedding that image and becoming a strong and serious artist. Since then, the reinvented Willow has made many top hits and set herself in a league of her own musical tenacity. It seems that these songs have also made a huge impact on the city of Pomona, considering the large crowd size of dedicated fans. She continued the opening of
her fantastic show with songs like <maybe> its my fault and Falling Endlessly. The set remained strong, with differing sections for every part of her fan base. During the middle of the set, she stripped it down for a cover of David Byrne's Psycho Killer and brought Yves back out, to a raucous amount of applause, to play the live debut of their song Perfectly Not Close To Me. She continued to play more amazing songs, like a jaw-dropping rendition of arguably one of her most popular songs, Meet Me at Our Spot, before bringing back the emotions with another acoustic song, Marceline. It is unfortunate that all good things must come to an end, but Willow ended it in a spectacular performance of Wait a Minute! These ending songs were my personal favorites because of the crowd's energy that came with them. This show was tremendously my favorite this year so far, with her ecstatic energy and unbelievable vocals. I will now personally be looking forward to any of her future shows and tours, as should you!
See more photos from the show here!
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