T. Mills @ El Corazon

T. Millls * El Corazon in Seattle, WA * 02.27.14
Review by T. Monte
Photos by Sunny Martini

T. Mills and company rolled through Seattle and hit El Corazon with a stellar wave of hip hop, youth, and reckless confidence. Hailing from Riverside, California, this was his second appearance here in the Emerald City. And, with a bigger library and more accolades under his belt, T. Mills continued to find his rhythm on the road.

The house was pumped and ready to bounce when he took the stage and opened with Right Song. Flowing into Leaving Home and Diemonds, outstretched arms waved together and occasionally caught a random high five from T. Mills. Tapping into his newly released ep “All I Wanna Do,” he played Somebody to Miss You before going into what he deemed “the sexual part of the set” with LA it Down. This started the ladies abuzz as he went about tossing around his gold microphone and generously doling out what I like to call winky eyes.

Careful there Mr. Mills, some of these gals skipped their algebra homework to be here. Wink wink.

Taking it way back (that’s a couple of years), one could sense that the zenith of the show was She Got A… The house sang along, happy and boisterous, while the sweat gave a transparency to Mills’ white button up shirt. On stage, Mills laid his talents bare. He finished his show with his latest single All I Wanna Do, handpicking members of the crowd to join him on stage. In the end, just about everyone was on stage shouting along, taking quick selfies, and generally enjoying the moment. T. Mills was lost in a bundle of arms. All in all, he played roughly a dozen songs, with an intro and outro built into his set list. His passion and energy left the bedazzled crowd wanting more as they sauntered slowly off the stage and milled around the floor. The lights were up, but nobody wanted to leave.

Xperience and Blackbear led the charge into the night. Xperience has been around plenty of big names and by now should have some affinity with Seattle, having toured with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in 2011 and 2012. He was joined on stage by Candy and JFK, as well as E-Jazzy, who added a nice contrast of female vocals to his lines. He took the time to personally say hi to the crowd after his set, which is always admirable.

Blackbear sure was fun, as most things are that come out of Hollywood. The range of sound created between him and his drummer at times were almost sublime, and it was a treat to watch him perform. Between the dramatic pauses and the intermittent high pitched hooks, Blackbear brought a different facet to the show that warrants some attention. He wasted no time in releasing a new single the following day. Keep up with these guys.

Set List:

OBC
Right Song
Leaving Home
Diemonds
Somebody To Miss You
Loud
Riverside Girl
LA It Down
The Boom
Lightweight
She Gotta
Vans On
All I Wanna Do

T. Mills

Blackbear

Xperience