Open Mike Eagle, Mega Ran, and Pink Navel at Zone One at Elsewhere
Touring in support of his 2023 record, Another Triumph of Ghetto Engineering, Los Angeles rapper Open Mike Eagle headlined Zone One at Elsewhere on Sunday, December 10, 2023. On this tour of the east coast, he is joined by Massachusetts rapper Pink Navel, plus Mega Ran was a special addition to the bill (OME and Mega Ran performed together at same venue in the summer of 2018).
Pink Navel kicked off the show at 8PM and spoke lovingly about the other rappers on the bill and seemed to be having fun on stage. They performed a song and told the audience if they were able to figure out who the song was about, they should give money to someone, and shortly adding afterward that we should tip the bartender when we knew who the song was about (it was Mario of Super Mario Bros.) Their energy was a good match for the following act, Mega Ran, who resides in AZ and wore a holiday sweater and Santa hat for his performance. Mega Ran spoke about his past as a teacher, becoming a father, writing and performing an affirmation song for kids, and being asked to write a song about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but having a request for the song to be a little like Vanilla Ice. For a couple songs of his set, he brought out Christoph Jesus of Crazy and the Brains for assistance.
Open Mike Eagle took the stage at 10PM and began his set with “Very Much Money” from his 2014 album, Dark Comedy. Since this was a tour in support of his newest album, I was a little surprised to have an older song of his be the first song of his set, a record that I love and attended the record release show at Spike Hill (RIP) when it came out. Another older song, “(How Could Anyone) Feel At Home,” was performed with Mike revealing that it was written in New York. The first time I heard Another Triumph, I loved “we should have made otherground a thing,” since it shouted out a lot of independent rappers and producers I know so I was pretty thrilled this song was a part of his set too. Throughout the night, Mike told the audience he was performing rap songs on purpose but he also threw in a couple of freestyles during “WFLD 32” and “95 Radios.” He also jokingly told the audience he figured out that he makes “trauma bops” before launching into “Death Parade” from his 2020 album Anime, Trauma, and Divorce.
The Open Mike Eagle & Pink Navel tour continues along the east coast in December and the remaining tour dates are available here.