Grammy nominee Dijon shrieked till his voice gave out for thousands of fans at the Met
Euphoric swells, squawks, and wails captivated the audience on a tour stop that followed "Baby" and the musician's first ever Grammy nominations.
There are few artists who can accomplish the impossible feat of a voluntary phone-free show.
The moment Dijon Duenas — dressed casually as if he’d stopped by a Fishtown bar to watch the Eagles game — walked on to the Met stage, Philadelphians packing the 3,500-seater venue remained captivated for the full two-hour show.
The Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, and multi-instrumentalist, who goes by just his first name, made a stop at the Met Philadelphia on his 37-city tour on Sunday night.
The international tour, which began in October, comes after the release of Dijon’s second album, Baby, “a spectacular new vision of soul, pop, and R&B” in which his “surrealist, collagist approach to songwriting stretches the bounds of sound and feeling,” according to Pitchfork.
And altering those bounds of soul, pop, and R&B he did; performing 18 songs from new and past albums. With his nine-person band, fans watched a live jam session playing out as the artist expertly weaved together instrumentals and his voice to recreate the high production of his work live on stage.
Starting off on a “HIGHER!” note, Dijon began the show with the ecstatic and celebratory track. Audience members were up on their feet by the first beat, dancing, bopping their heads, and singing along until he concluded the show with a heart-wrenching encore performance of “Rodeo Clown.”
Philadelphia fans have waited four years to see Dijon back in the City of Brotherly Love, since he last stopped here in 2022 at the Union Transfer for two sold-out shows. The anticipation to see him was palatable from the mass of people buying merch and records before the show even began and the commitment to stay on their feet, phone-free throughout.
Since his debut album Absolutely dropped in 2021, Dijon has quickly made his mark. He regularly works with guitarist and songwriter Mk.gee. He teamed up with Bon Iver for single One Day, and helped produce Justin Bieber’s SWAG. He made a cameo on Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, and will be a musical guest on Saturday Night Live on Dec. 6. And he’s up for producer of the year for his work on Bieber’s album at the Grammys.
On Sunday, Dijon let all the small yet significant quirks of his production vibrate off the Met walls: euphoric swells in “Yamaha” offering vulnerable glimpses of joy and devotion, his trademark squawks and wails in “My Man” echoing deep emotions of resentment, and intentional pauses in “Talk Down” making space for his fans to belt out the lyrics to the crowd favorite Absolutely track.
The flashing flood lights on stage lit up the thousands of faces that remained transfixed and almost hypnotized by Dijon’s artistry. He finished his set with soulful, soft “Kindalove,” but cheers and hollers from the crowd for a full four minutes brought the singer back on stage for two raspy, raw encore performances of “Skin” and “Rodeo Clown,” both tracks that demonstrated the lengths he’ll go — even if it means shrieking until his voice gives out.
Watching the artist replicate his work live, for many in the audience walking out of the venue, was nothing short of — as critics have hailed his latest album — “transcendent.”