Khruangbin w/ Helado Negro • April 18, 2025 • The BayCare Sound – Clearwater, FL • Photos by @gtdmouse — instagram.com/gtdmouse

LIVE REVIEW

Khruangbin & Helado Negro | April 18, 2025 | BayCare Sound, Clearwater, FL
Review by: Randy Cook /// @horns_raised

Houston psych-rock trio Khruangbin brought their ‘A La Sala’ 2025 tour to the BayCare Sound on a beautiful Friday evening on the waterfront of downtown Clearwater, FL. The weather was perfect for a sold out show of a band that I was not familiar with before attending the show. This was a whole new musical journey for me into Khruangbin and their bass-heavy, psychedelic sound influence from 1960’s Thai funk. It sure sounded interesting and I purposefully went into the show not listening to any of their music ahead of time. The name “Khruangbin,” which means “airplane” or “flying engine” in Thai, and it was chosen by the band to represent their global influences and eclectic sound. Pronounced “Kroong-bin,” the name also symbolizes the band’s musical journey and the idea of traveling through sound.

I arrived at the venue and in my normal fashion began to people watch and began digesting the demographics of the crowd on hand. As always, I am fascinated by the crowd at the Shows I Go To and ahead of time I guess I was expecting a crowd of tie-dyed attired couples, and instead I was met with the largest crowd I have ever seen at this venue. Most walks and stages of life were represented. I saw two newborns and a handful of elderly in attendance, I saw people dressed like they just came from the beach to a couple in a dinner jacket and a sequin dress. I saw parents bringing their teenage children and I even saw one group of five twenty-somethings all dressed in fur coats!?!? Already it was an interesting and fascinating evening.

Helado Negro opened the show and for his set I watched from the back of the general admission lawn section, literally on the steps of the public library and I just took in the crowd in front of me and the simplistic set design. Just a drummer to my right, a bassist to my left, and a keyboard set up in the middle that mostly played looping backing rhythms to match the soothing sounds emitting from the singer who seemed both oddly uncomfortable in the spotlight yet beyond smooth with his subtle rhythms and delicate melodies of songs that just seemed to flow and create a happy feeling and environment. I saw many people dancing throughout his forty five minute set. I described his set to my friend as earthy and atmospheric, very soothing and there was one song that was like light hip-hop jazz that was more up-tempo had the most crowd interaction.

For the main event I made my way to down my seat and had a great view of the stage and the video screens. With the same simplistic stage set design, it was a half a wall across the stage with three archways and two very strong smoke machines on either side. The band members entered from stage right with drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson going first to his kit then bassist Laura Lee and guitarist Mark Speer taking seats in the other two archways to begin the show with ‘Fifteen Fifty‐Three’. The photographer in me was thinking how this would have been a rather difficult shoot because early on the musicians were mostly silhouetted and engulfed in the stage smoke and staying toward that stage wall in the back near the drum set. The video screens were purposefully blurred and overlayed with multiple images giving it that trippy vibe, but it was clear enough to know it was live and happening in front of us.

Both Laura and Mark appeared to be in their own little world on stage as the music took them over and I really enjoyed Laura’s playful sultriness as she kicks and spins her way around while laying down the rhythm for the band. While it seemed to me they were just aimlessly going where the music took them on the stage there was some seemingly pre-arranged interaction as they came together here and there. This coordination was confirmed by my friend Ken who was in attendance and dancing his way all over the general admission pit in the front of the seated section. With minimal song lyrics, the band lets their music do the speaking for them, almost like a story without words, their harmonies just adding to the journey in your mind I saw many around me taking.

With four full length studio releases a collaborative release with Malian singer and guitarist Vieux Farka Touré and six additional EPs of material to choose from, the band played their latest release, A La Sala, in its entirety for the first part of the show this evening. At the intermission I went back to the general admission lawn section as I wanted to take in more of the crowd around me and I think I spent more time watching the crowd than I did the musicians on stage. I was fascinated by Mark’s effortless guitar playing as I was not familiar with music that seemed to create its own path as it went along. Being more into heavy metal and that type of song construction I really did find this an interesting change and a musical learning experience. The crowd was on hand more to feel the music within than to just hear the songs played live.

I asked my friend Ken about his thoughts on the show the next day and he shared this with me:
“It was art, it was choreographed, it was funky, it was hypnotic, it was cool, and it was almost spiritual. It seems like half of all the great newer bands are from Texas lately. Looking at you Silverada, Whiskey Myers, Koe Wetzel, Austin Meade, etc……. The first set was the latest record as the evening built. The sinewy grooves capturing the crowd. The guitarist dealing out all manner of psych riffs mixed with world and almost spaghetti western sounds. The bassist reminded me of the great British bass player Jah Wobble, with a perfect combination of grooves and funk, yet providing the driving force in all of it. The second set is when it really went off, the dancing vibe caught everyone. The pit was a sea of smiles and moving. The spirit caught everyone. As always, The Sound lived up to its name, it was perfect.”

Overall I say it was a fantastic evening, show and experience. I saw nothing but happy faces and dancing feet. Add in perfect weather in a beautiful waterfront setting and a friend who described the show as perfect, I would go again in a heartbeat.

Khruangbin set list, April 18, 2025:
A La Sala (Set 1):
Fifteen Fifty‐Three
May Ninth
Ada Jean
Farolim de Felgueiras
Pon Pón
Todavía Viva
Juegos y Nubes
Hold Me Up (Thank You)
Caja de la Sala
Three From Two
A Love International
Les Petits Gris
Set 2:
The Recital That Never Happened
August Twelve
Lady and Man
So We Won’t Forget
White Gloves
Evan Finds the Third Room
Time (You and I)
María también
Encore:
A Calf Born in Winter
Dern Kala
People Everywhere (Still Alive)

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