By: Kat Guevara
Los Feliz, CA (The Hollywood Times) 04/08/2023 — Pulsating lights beamed into blackness, surrounded by a sea of bedazzled cell phone screens that turned breathless once Keshi appeared and started singing “Blue.” The 28-year-old multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter performed back-to-back sold-out shows at The Greek Theater on Friday and Saturday as part of his U.S. Hell and Back tour. All 5,900 seats were filled with swooning audience members, with a majority AAPI crowd in support of the Houston native, Vietnamese American musician who is rightfully dubbed the lo-fi prince.
His setlist encompassed a medley of past albums from Bandaids to The Reaper, performing hit after hit, 20 songs later. His ethos of longing falsettos and breathy sensuality controlled the crowd. The crowd reacted in an uproar to the subtle and big adjustments from Keshi taking off his jacket to him grabbing his acoustic guitar on the song “Less of You.”
His tour came as a follow-up to a successful Hell/Heaven tour last year when his EP “Gabriel” was released in March 2022 under Island Records. “It ended up being a means for me to process the experience of having transitioned from a much less public life to another I’m having a little more trouble navigating recently,” said Keshi. “I thought about success, purpose, family, pressure and failure. How time is my only commodity and how sex is just skin. How little I care for what people have to say and how important it is at the same time,” he added.
Before his rise as Keshi, the artist was formerly known as Casey Luong. He pursued a career as an oncology nurse, until he transitioned as a musician after posting his self-produced track “If You’re Not the One for Me Who Is” online. What started out as a longing and secret creative endeavor quickly brought him a fanbase. Keshi has evolved from the lo-fi, hip-hop Soundcloud artist to a Spotify featured musician with more than 11.6mil listeners and more than one billion listens.
For more information, visit: www.keshimusic.com.