Just as the mad genius Thundercat hits the Invisible Wind Factory, SFN‘s Jack Cinnamond takes a trip to the grandest venue in Liverpool to catch the city debut of the renowned jazz artist.

As soon as it was announced, we knew Thundercat would sell the hell out of the Invisible Wind Factory and like it was nothing, he accomplished that task and we’ve never seen the IWF so packed.

Following his acclaimed album release of Drunk just a fesw months ago, it was difficult to see how even an oddball great like LA’s Thundercat could preform his recorded vision live, however from the moment he took stage it was inevitable that he’d do it through sheer talent and lots of greatly preformed improvisation.

Tonight Thundercat tripped through his setlist of Drunk tracks, extended jams and of course, a few covers of songs the man himself was apart of, afterall when you’re Thundercat, one of the key players in the magical West Coast jazz-funk fusion scene (that also plays home to collaborators Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington of course), you’re bound to pull out those types of covers.

Set highlights would include performances of “Friend Zone”, “A Fan’s Mail”, “Oh Shiet It’s X”, covers of FlyLo‘s “MmmHmm” and Kendrick Lamar‘s “Complexion” and the roaring “Them Changes”.

I’m sure everyone will remember the day Thundercat came to town, now with Kamasi Washington heading to the O2 Academy on June 30th, we just hope for FlyLo to return and that holy grail Kendrick Lamar show.

Words by Jack Cinnamond, photography by James Ainsworth.