What began as a string of festival dates at Panorama and FYF Fest has now developed into the Welcome to Freetown tour — extraordinarily welcome news for Blood Orange fans. Multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and achingly beautiful songwriter Devonté Hynes doesn’t often perform live, but when he does, it’s always something special (remember his 2015 Blood Orange and Friends nights at Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater?).
Next week, Hynes will perform his outstanding new album Freetown Sound in its entirety at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. Fortunately for those further afield, his first ever live performance of richly layered Freetown gems like “Augustine” and “Best to You” will be livestreamed from the Ace on Tidal. But before the British-born, NYC-based artist sets off for the Southern California sunshine, he’s treating fellow New Yorkers to a free solo piano performance in Greenpoint tonight at the Manhattan Inn piano bar.
Hynes made the announcement on Instagram this afternoon alongside a portrait by Michael Halsband, the photographer behind Warhol and Basquiat’s iconic boxing image. Hynes noted that Freetown Sound deluxe edition double LPs — which come with special 10-inch copies of independently released singles “Sandra’s Smile” and “Do You See My Skin Through the Flames?” — will be available at the show. This special bundle has been on pre-order since the record was released in late June, but will not ship until Friday. So any vinyl fiends looking to get their hands on the wax early, this is your moment.
Dev Hynes performs at the Manhattan Inn tonight at 8pm, more information here.
Related: Grace Jones and Dev Hynes to team up for one night show of “ultimate blackness”
Credits
Text Emily Manning
Photography Beau Grealy
Styling Andreas Kokkino