The lights covered the audience in a red blanket“We’re gonna get hype some type of way,” explained Toyin, a 22 year old Houstonian. She turned the volume of the speaker all the way up and with the bounce of her fro, she belted out the lyrics to Solange’s song, “F.U.B.U.” Toyin, Heaven, and others sprang up from the grass right as the lights flashed on. The lights covered the audience in a red blanket and horns sounded Solange’s welcome. Solange’s set was made impeccable because of the visible relationship she had with the other artists on stage. They were all the epitome of black artistry. The horn players laughed between sonic exhalations, the bassist skipped around on stage, and dancers performed geometric choreography while singing sighs of angels. As Solange danced through the stage, it is obvious why she won a grammy for the Best R&B Performance. The costumes they wore breathed out afro futuristic with elements of soul train dance moves and fashion. Women in the audience sobbed and held hands, singing the songs we’d only sang in private, sounding like an oddly harmonized choir of experience. The pivotal point of her show, though, was when Solange sang her highly anticipated, “F.U.B.U” to a loving fan. A woman in the front row broke down into tears as Solange descended the stage to sing the entire song to her. “Don’t clip my wings before I learn to fly” Solange sang, “I didn’t come back down to Earth to die.” And as the woman cried, holding Solange’s hand as tightly as a child does their hero, Heaven turned to me and grabbed my hand, singing “This is for US.” Unfortunately, because of Solange’s delay I wasn’t able to capture Jay Z’s set, but truly Solange’s set was cathartic for me. From the shift of uniform tank tops and shorts, to the sea of afros, cornrows, hair jewelry and sisterhood, the first day of ACL for me was made by Solange performing “for us.”
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