Odesza dazzles with sounds, sights and showmanship at RiverBeat Music Festival in Memphis

Grammy-nominated electronic music duo Odesza capped the opening night of the inaugural RiverBeat Music Festival on Friday, bringing an array of scintillating sights and sounds to their Tom Lee Park performance.

While not having massive mainstream name recognition, Odesza — made up of Washington state natives Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight — have become one of the biggest contemporary acts in electronic music, with a series of chart-topping dance albums that have crossed over to the pop charts.

Though Odesza can’t claim the legacy of RiverBeat’s Saturday night headliners, the Fugees, or the current heat of Sunday’s closer, Jelly Roll, the duo may actually be a bigger draw than either. Case in point: Odesza will launch a summer tour next month that will see them headline major venues across the country, including multiple shows at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles and at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden.

A favorite on the festival circuit — having headlined 2023 editions of Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits, among others — Odesza concerts have been hailed as multi-sensory experiences, filled with a mix of big beats and live musicians, eye-popping visuals, pyrotechnics and lighting effects.

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That’s likely one reason why RiverBeat promoters were eager to tap the group as the top billed act on Friday. Whether you’re familiar with their music or not, Odesza offers an experience designed to grab the attention of any festival-goer.

That was certainly true of the group’s set, which served as the evening finale on the Stringbend stage, in the southern end of Tom Lee. It was an overwhelmingly young crowd — certainly compared to recent Beale Street Music Festival audiences — that turned out for the show.

Odesza wasted no time pulling out all the stops: with Mills and Knight moving between their electronic setups and playing percussion, while supported by a horn section and a drumline outfitted in spaceman helmets — all while a barrage of flames, confetti explosions and a high-tech light show wowed the crowd. And that was just the opening number.

The group’s 90-minute performance continued along those lines — a well-calculated mix of sound and spectacle — as they played through the best tracks off their five albums for the Ninja Tune label, including their last two acclaimed efforts, “A Moment Apart” and “The Last Goodbye.”

While the Odesza ensemble carried the performance of “This Version of You” and Behind the Sun” and reached ecstatic heights on “Love Letter,” the group also welcomed guest vocalist, British-Ethiopian singer Izzy Bizu, who performed her collaboration with the group, “Forgive Me.”

If the audience reaction was any gauge, RiverBeat’s seemingly left field choice for Friday headliner was a resounding success, as the crowd at the Stringbend stage grew into an enthusiastic throng by the end of the night, clearly relishing the undeniable energy and showmanship of Odesza.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Odesza pulls out all the stops during Memphis music festival | Review