For the first time in ten years, Red Bull is returning to the US with their highly unusual, unpredictable and downright intriguing SoundClash concert battle. Think of it as Verzuz, meets a good old fashioned battle of the bands, meets the unforgettable Drake vs Lil Wayne tour of 2014. The 2021 event is taking place in Atlanta, Houston, Nashville and Chicago, and before we go any further, it’s important to understand the fairly insane rules of this function according to the SoundClash site:
The rules of the game are simple: to clash in the name of creating a one-of-a-kind party and score ultimate bragging rights. Over the course of four rounds, each band or artist will play covers, reimagine one of their competitor’s tracks, perform three of their own songs in a comfort-zone stretching new style (Folk? A capella? Electro pop? Why not?), and then finally pull out all the stops in a wildcard finale. (Improvisation? Special guests? On-stage antics? Almost anything is fair game.) At the end of the night, the audience will vote will determine a winner—but not one goes home without having a good time.
Make sense? Two artists on two stages and one winner in each of four cities as determined by the crowd. Here’s the breakdown of who battles who and where:
SoundClash Atlanta goes down on November 30th at The Eastern between Love Renaissance signees Shelley (fka DRAM) and Westside Boogie.
SoundClash Nashville pits “Queens of Gulf Coast Soul” at the Bayou Music Center on December 2nd, with a battle between Tank and the Bangas versus The Suffers.
SoundClash Houston is at Marathon Music Works on December 9th with a showdown between Bren Joy and a TBD opponent.
SoundClash Chicago might be the wildest of the all, with DC’s Rico Nasty facing off against Detroit lifer Danny Brown on December 16th at Radius.
Tickets and more info on each city’s event are available here.
Rico Nasty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
