Has anyone been punched in the stomach recently? If you have, there’s a good chance you attended the Mellowhigh concert in December at Irving Plaza. For those of you who don’t follow Odd Future’s every move, you’ve probably never heard of Mellowhigh. A small group of Odd Future members, it consists of Left Brain, Hodgy Beats, and Domo23. Relatively new, this is their first tour and  they are performing their first album, released this Halloween. Less of an eff-the-world attitude than their work with Odd Future, Mellowhigh songs still maintain a relaxed adolescent view on the world.

While the rap is all fine and dandy, what makes the concert interesting is the fans.  Sure, at a rap concert there is always a certain amount of…overindulgence. But at a Mellowhigh, it’s a whole lot of everything: smoke floating up from different parts of crowd making the stage look slightly hazy, the security guards diving in and out attempting to extinguish the many flames while odd smells waft across the room. Then, of course, you’re ducking the many legs and arms of the crowd surfers. I admired their gumption. The crowd was very small, so there were a couple people who would jump and…well, didn’t really make it to “surfing.” But the most entertaining part of the night was the mosh pit. At one point, Hodgy said, “This song just makes me want to hit someone, so if you’re going to punch someone do it now.” The fans followed his directions to a T. Fists were flying, people were on the floor, and  there was lots of and lots shoving. The crowd was so passionate, people yelling and cheering. And Mellowhigh actually interacted with the audience. People would shout out songs and they’d play them; then they’d have conversations with people in the crowd. It was really relaxed.

While the music was just all right, the overall weirdness was something worth seeing (at one point, Hodgy was drinking tea to “soothe his vocal chords”). If you want to meet some crazy people, I would definitely recommend them.