If the trenchant US rapper Noname had her fondest wish, this show wouldn’t be just another gig in a corporate rock venue, but a free block party. There would be food trucks, stalls for activist groups and Black-owned businesses, plus free legal weed and somewhere for attenders to donate transformational books written by people of colour to those in jail. This is what happened in Fatimah Warner’s home town of Chicago last year, to celebrate the release of her incendiary and highly personal third album, Sundial, which closed 2023 on numerous year-end lists.
Nonetheless, Noname seems delighted to be at the 5,300-capacity Apollo – not least because of the turnout (abundant, if not quite sold out). As she asks for the house lights to be illuminated, she can’t quite believe how many people are here, shouting her lyrics back at her.
