The pause afforded some processing of all that the energetic hip-hop/electro-dance show had entailed since opening with sounds of Tibetan monks chanting in ultralow tones. It also allowed consideration of all that Die Antwoord had done just that week.
On Monday, the Cape Town outfit charmed David Letterman on his Late Show, performing their infectious single "I Fink U Freeky," with Yo-Landi's chirpy, space alien-eyed delivery and high bangs/ratty mullet hairstyle commanding attention. (Letterman remained comically obsessed on Thursday, working the song title into a "Top Ten," and later coaxing English actress Michelle Dockery of Downton Abbey to intone it repeatedly.) On Tuesday, Die Antwoord dropped the follow-up to their 2010 debut album, $O$.
Thursday found the Cape Town outfit launching a global tour in matching red hoodies, with a Philly set that moved from slower jams to torrents of dance-inducing dubstep as clothes were removed. (Revelation: Yo-Landi evolved from quasi-creepy waif to incredibly lithe looker, confidently whipping her body about the stage in her underwear.)
Slinging gleefully profane rhymes in English and Afrikaans, Ninja's flow sometimes waxed Eminem-esque, while Yo-Landi could conjure a higher-pitched M.I.A. - but all was grounded in D.A.'s signature "zef" aesthetic, their synthesis of South African slanguage and trash-culture empowerment. Their cover of "Money and the Power" (by Scarface, of Houston's Geto Boys) was almost as delightfully weird as their F-bomb-enlivened take on Enya's breakthrough hit "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)," which actually sampled the Celtic singer.
All in fun - Die Antwoord's last, only words as they left the stage was Yo-Landi's emphatic, "Be happy!"
