Robert DeLong @ Fountain Square 7/22/16

By: Derek Jung

Robert DeLong performing on Fountain Square, Cincinnati, Ohio

So far this summer, the sound at Cincinnati's Fountain Square has been lackluster at best, and so distracting that the artist temporarily leaves the stage at worst. With all of the gadgets Robert DeLong brings with him on tour, I didn't have high hopes for what it would sound like, especially considering the last time I saw him was at Madison Theater, which has a fantastic sound system. Despite a few hiccups and a depressing lack of bass or low range, the sound actually wasn't too bad.

DeLong is ramping down his touring schedule, having been going hard since his most recent album In The Cards was released last September. Overall, the show hasn't changed much in the last 9 months, and I found myself having déjà vu during many of the "wow" portions of the set, including the drum solo end to set closer "Global Concepts". The show was much less of a dance party compared to the Madison Theater show, probably because the lack of bass created a pretty dull atmosphere. Only a small portion of the crowd was dancing, and DeLong, by no fault of his own, could never muster the extra energy to take the crowd over the edge.

The other element that was greatly lacking from this show was DeLong's visuals. Typically, a screen is right behind him projecting awesome video effects during his performance, but at Fountain Square, the visuals were projected on a screen on the building behind the stage. So you had to look at either the stage or the screen; it was impossible to look at both at the same time, so I chose not to look at the effects at all.

DeLong is definitely worth seeing. Being the only person on stage and playing all of his gizmos and gadgets is fun to watch. Hopefully next time he's in Cincinnati we'll hear some new material and a fresher performance.