I’m waiting on the side stage before the Black Pumas set where I witness the second omen of the badly behaved crowd in Deep Ellum tonight. A random man, in a cow print hat, gold grillz, and aluminum Bud Light, “just hanging out” [behind the security line] [with the stand-offish photographers] he told the security man. He’s already ousted from the area before the lights go down and the white lights blaze through the eyes and teeth of the two battling pumas, an image which also graced the cover of their second studio album, "Chronicles of a Diamond". The duo is made up of Eric Burton as the dynamic lead singer, and the reserved Adrian Quesada, guitarist and producer, both Native Texans. The show starts with “Fire” their second single off their self-titled debut. To me, it’s strange to start a show, on the tour for the second album, with a single from the first. But Black Pumas did just finish a week-long residency in their hometown of Austin, TX so maybe the duo felt the setlist was a little exhausted.

          If Burton is exhausted, he isn’t showing it the first half of the show as he volleys from speaker to speak, and floorwork to the percussive beats to “Know You Better”. After I’ve taken my shots, dropped my gear off, and navigated through the drunken, influenced, and overall temperamental crowd back to my group, the show is - heartbreakingly - halfway through based on the upside-down setlist photo I took on my phone. Burton pauses before starting his next song as if he’s holding space - suspended tension - the upward motion of the purple lights, the first chords of “Angel”, strummed on his acoustic guitar, and - release - the twist and fall of the lights accompanied with the opening lyric, Come alive little angel. Any good songwriting follows these two steps: establish tension and release. 

          It’s at “More Than a Love Song” when I feel liquid and ice fall from the balcony of The Factory, ricocheting off my shoulders and onto the floor. People closest to me look up for the culprit, I doubt this will be the final time a drink has been poured on me. “More Than a Love Song” melds into “Confines” then, “OCT 33”. All these songs sound the same, trailing one right after another with no easy differential to break up the droning. Even the people in front of me have resorted to using the last drips of their battery life to take selfies with different filters that contort and airbrush their faces. The people in the crowd are bored. I know there are only two (short) albums worth of songs, and it’s not even that the songs selected are bad, it’s the order. I want the same energy from the first three songs to infect the audience, for the entirety of the show. Where did that energy go?