
FIDLAR’s hour-long set on Saturday featured brash punk anthems, a slew of crowd surfers, and for some inexplicable reason, two life-sized R. Kelly statues.
Fresh off their television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the four-piece garage rock band took the stage at the High Dive in Downtown Gainesville to promote their sophomore album, Too.


Brisbane-based rockers Dune Rats opened up the show with an energetic performance. Their upbeat punk rock songs prompted multiple mosh pits in the center of the room, warming up the crowd for the FIDLAR’s headlining set.

Before FIDLAR took the stage, the lights in the venue dimmed as R. Kelly’s Ignition Remix blasted from the speakers. Crewmembers pulled sheets away from the pair of large objects on opposing sides of the stage, revealing two life-sized R. Kelly statues as the band came onto the stage.

FIDLAR ran through hits from its latest album, including the songs 40oz. on Repeat, West Coast and Drone. The new record chronicles frontman Zac Carper’s struggles with substance abuse that resulted in a stint in rehab. The fresh songs were met with an enthusiastic response; Crowd surfers sailed through the air as fans screamed the new lyrics back at the band.

The group also performed popular hits from its self-titled debut album, starting their set off with Stoked and Broke and ending with an explosive rendition of the song Cocaine.
For the goofy band of skate punks, it wasn’t enough to leave it at that. To finish things how they started, R. Kelly’s I Believe I Can Fly played over the loudspeakers as fans filtered out of the venue.
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Gabrielle Calise can reached at gcalise@ufl.edu, or send a tweet her way @gabriellecalise.
Great art, Gabrielle! I’m looking forward to seeing the third blog post. — Ms. Butler
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