Austin City Limits

High intensity. Lyrical smartbombs. Killer beats. Those are the hallmarks of a great Run The Jewels show, and those elements were in abundance at the debut taping by the rap superstars.

“We’re gonna light this shit on fire like Willie Nelson would light a joint,” declared Killer Mike after an intro of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” He wasn’t kidding, as he, rapping partner El-P and DJ Trackstar exploded with “Talk To Me,” as energetic an opener as any rock band could provide. Mike’s rapid-fire delivery contrasted nicely with El-P’s punk rock bluster, with Trackstar throwing in the occasional interjection. “Legend Has It” and “Call Ticketron” kept the energy high, the crowd shouting “RTJ!” during the call-and-response section for the former. After thanking the show and warning the crowd about the profanity to come (“We curse like goddamn sailors, kids!”), the band launched into “Blockbuster Night Pt. 1,” Mike showing off why he’s one of the most acclaimed MCs on earth with a stream of superspeed wordsmithery. The band showed off its sardonic sense of humor with “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry” and “36” Chain,” the latter previewed by an El-P speech about handing out invisible gold chains to the crowd with each ticket.

As if the room wasn’t vibrant enough, the duo engaged the crowd for the intro of “Stay Gold,” one of the new album’s most indelible tracks. Trackstar provided both an ambient segue and a brief but fiery scratch solo for “Don’t Get Captured,” one of the group’s most political anthems. A sampled sitar earned immediate cheers and led into “Nobody Speak,” a clear audience favorite. But that was nothing compared to what came next. After Killer Mike declared, “I don’t care what anybody says about watching too much TV – I know I’m smarter because of PBS,” RTJ launched into the booming, cheerfully profane “Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck),” which drove the audience even further into a frenzy. So they were primed for a titanic “Hey!” to intro “Hey Kids.” More social commentary followed in the blazing “A Report to the Shareholders,” before El-P exposed the raw emotions underneath the group’s bravado for “Thursday in the Danger Room,” an elegy to anyone who should be with us but isn’t.  

“We’re gonna do a song now that we’ve never quite pulled off,” said El-P, as singers Joi and BGV joined RTJ for “2100.” Then, singer Boots also arrived to add his crushed velvet croon, recreating his studio parts. They definitely pulled it off. Joi joined Mike and El-P on the frontline for the empowering “Down,” as perfectly uplifting a song to end a set with as can be. The band left the stage, but the break didn’t last long. The audience cheered wildly as RTJ returned to the stage for the angry, provocative “Angel Duster,” during which Mike and El-P joined the crowd on the floor. It was an explosive performance, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs early next year on your local PBS station as part of our Season 43.

For music fans, Herbie Hancock needs little introduction. The keyboardist and composer is not only a jazz legend, but also a funkateer, R&B balladeer and technology innovator in music. There are no walls separating the different sides of his musical personality, though – Hancock gleefully mashes all of his interests together into a cohesive whole. We couldn’t have been more thrilled to host him on our stage, and he used his debut Austin City Limits taping to prove exactly why he’s a musical icon.

Hitting the stage to a standing ovation, Hancock and his stellar three-piece band began the set with, appropriately enough, “Overture,” sampling the musical themes of the rest of the tunes just like a symphony orchestra does at a classical concert. Hancock drew a bucket of strange noises out of his synthesizer as jazz/session drummer supreme Vinnie Colaiuta, Saturday Night Live bassist James Genus and saxophonist/keyboardist/Kendrick Lamar producer Terrace Martin limbered up. Martin dropped in vocoder blurts in between wailing on his alto, while Colaiuta and Genus provided a masterclass of how to be laidback but look busy. Turning to his piano, Hancock moved from atmospheric ambience to furious storms of notes, never losing the melody no matter how far out he went.

After a mesmerizing stretch with each musician demonstrating their ingenuity, the overture came to a close and Hancock introduced the band. Then they went into “Actual Proof,” from Hancock’s classic 70s jazz/funk masterpiece Thrust. Hancock moved seamlessly from multiple synth sounds to the piano, going from funky to jazzy, rhythmic to melodic, and back again. Hancock may be 77, but his keyboard facility is as potent now as it was when he was 27. Martin then reeled out his sax, matching his bandleader lick for lick. Genus next took the spotlight with a short but hard grooving bass solo, before the song shifted back to the leader’s electronic keys.

Donning his vocoder, Hancock went into “Come Running to Me,” from 1978’s Sunlight, adding otherworldly vocals to what’s essentially a jazzy R&B ballad, showing the kids how it was done before the advent of Auto-Tune. Electronics may have seemed to dominate at first, but Hancock coaxed magic out of his grand piano once again. Martin also took up the mic through his own vocoder, providing spaced-out counterpoint to the leader’s robotic croon. Then Hancock and the band gave us a real treat: an unrecorded/unreleased song. “Secret Sauce” began with a thrusting groove on synth and bass guitar, before coming down to near-silence and slowly building itself back up again, at least partially due to Hancock’s wielding the synth and piano at the same time. Hancock turned the spotlight over to Martin, who duetted with himself on synthesizer and vocoder, joining Colaiuta and Genus crashing back in with a sax attack. Hancock went mobile, wielding his keytar (an instrument we’ve not seen on our stage since Edgar Winter in the eighties) for some fleet-fingered soloing.

Hancock and ensemble closed the main set with “Cantaloupe Island.” Though probably most famous as the basis for the US3 hit “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia),” the song is one of the composer’s signature tracks, recorded twice: one in 1964 on his postbop classic Empyrean Isles and again in 1976 on his funk/jazz landmark Secrets. This version looked back to the original, not only in its signature piano riff, but in the jaw-dropping soloing from Hancock’s piano and Martin’s alto. It was the pinnacle of the main set, and the crowd responded accordingly with wild applause as the band left the stage. The exit was brief, however, as just offstage Hancock donned his keytar for the signature riff of his iconic jazz/funk tune “Chameleon.” Retaking the stage, Hancock faced off with the sax-wielding Martin as Genus and Colaiuta brought the groove to a boil. The bandleader then took centerstage for an extended synth solo that no doubt fired up every air keyboardist in the joint. Keytar in hand, Hancock brought the show to a close with a flourish.

Few artists in any genre can achieve such a masterful balance of the challenging and the crowdpleasing. The audience went unsurprisingly crazy, as well they should for a giant who not only lives up to, but surpasses his sterling reputation. It was a magnificent show, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs early next year on your local PBS station.