Jordan Rakei in Berlin

There was magic in the air last night at Festsaal Kreuzberg. It seemed as if people yearned to be back together again to dance, cheer, have fun, drink, and listen to some great live music. And without masks!
Jordan Rakei was back after a couple of years, celebrating the release of his latest album “What We Call Life”. And thus, he started off with the title track and “Family” from his great LP.

But he also squeezed in several songs from his previous albums, such as “May”, “Say Something”, or “Eye To Eye”. It looked as he was managing the crowd from his altar of keyboards, with effective backing from guitar, bass, drums, and percussion. His vocals were amazing, easily changing to falsetto where necessary. I wish there would have been more keys to the overall sound, but I think his overall performance was simply outstanding. Great songs, deep voice, and a certain orchestration of the whole performance worked incredibly well.

Towards the end of his 80-minute set, he veered towards more dance-oriented, even house-inspired songs, and thus, created a wholesome affair which hopefully was the beginning of lots more exciting live concerts to come. Really dig his version of “Say Something” and the immensely grooving “Add The Bassline”. Also, it was quiet interesting to realize how many great songs he has already recorded in such a relatively short time.