Global dance-pop duo & vibe cultural purveyors, SOFI TUKKER, electrified a home-town crowd at the Roadrunner on the first leg of their BREAD Tour, laying down 21 dance-floor bangers to light up the release of their third studio album, BREAD.
Ice-blue lasers washed over a bouncing crowd, cutting between the fingers of raised hands. Fans of all ages in jungle patterns, some with purple hats, smiling and bouncing their shoulders to the beat, there was a charge in the room. Grammy-nominated eclectic dance-pop duo SOFI TUKKER took the stage at Roadrunner for a second night on the first leg of their BREAD tour, named after their most danceable album yet and an acronym for “Be Really Energetic and Dance”.
The set was a visually stunning future-earth party landscape, Tron-like linear neon lighting tracing ancient Roman-style white marble columns covered with snaking green vines. Gothic Church choirs hymnals and glowing red lights appeared around a white podium as Tukker sprung onto the stage. With a low-slung bass guitar, elongated frame and a blended, light and dark spotted buzz cut with orange Oakley sunglasses, he had the lanky, cool, sly smirk of Chester Cheetah. Bass echoed from the balconies as Sofi appeared in her signature vine swing calling out to the crowd with her ethereal voice.
“This is a hometown show for both of us tonight,” Sofi said, “My dad’s here and my Portuguese professor is here!” Tukker, a Boston native, called, “Raise your hand if you brought your best friend tonight. I’m friends with like half the people here!” as they kicked off their second song, “Best Friend” ft. The Knocks, which incorporates the electro funk baseline and the disco shine The Knocks are known for.
More than just frequent collaborators, The Knocks were SOFI TUKKER’s biggest industry influence and an early supporter, encouraging them to move to NYC and make music and even released their debut album, Treehouse, on their own label, Heavy Rock music. The Knocks’ experience with placements helped SOFI TUKKER’s music flourish in the cultural zeitgeist early on with their first monster hit and closing song in the, “Drinkee” which earned a Grammy nomination and lives inside Netflix shows, commercials, video games, and the movies like Ocean’s 8.
SOFI TUKKER brings a truly unique sound and style of music not heard before in the modern mainstream, and yet it sounds familiar enough to get everyone dancing. Their style integrates pop and avant-garde sensibilities while drawing on elements commonly found in electronic, hip hop, dance music and mid-60’s Brazilian bossa nova, which remains popular in the US and you may still hear in upscale restaurants and hotels without knowing it by name.
The show fully clicked into gear by the 4th track, their most talked about new release, “Spiral.” Anxiety-prone synths roiled the crowd to a boilover point as Tukker moved around the stage between his white pillar DJ booth to a jungle gym made of drum machines. Sofi led dance lessons for the crowd with Brazilian dancers half-way through while fan favorites like “Original Sin” and “Jacare” brought the crowd to a cooler but still uptempo place.
SOFI TUKKER has followed a similar path to Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, a Brazilian band that helped popularize bossa nova in the United States in 1960’s pop culture by blending Brazilian rhythms and language with American jazz, folk, soul and funk, featured in films of that era and remaining influential through twenty first century hit films like Superbad and Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery. Like Mendes, SOFI TUKKER achieved global superstardom by blending Brazilian rhythms with American party music while adding modern synth experimentation. Like Sergio, SOFI TUKKER’s sounds have nestled neatly into American film and prestige TV, and can still be heard as the hidden backdrop to your experiences for years to come.
The tailend of the show was the largest of their energy transfers with “Purple Hat,” a party bus track that took the crowd to periodic crescendos of electric pops. The thumping base built into a remix of Renaissance by Cristobal Tapia De Veer, the highly recognizable haunting theme song to HBO’s hit show, White Lotus, reinforcing just how much their music has influenced culture. Outside on the street after the show an energized crowd buzzed about the sidewalks, a sweaty fan saying to a friend, “I recognized so many of these songs tonight, I just never realized they were SOFI TUKKER!”