Compared to most musicians, Ugly God is… different. His songs are repetitive, profane and sometimes border on nonsensical. But they are always memorable.
That’s why when I stepped out of an Uber in front of Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, I had high hopes for his concert.
I was first introduced to Ugly God at the beginning of my first year here at UNC. I heard about Ugly God in the same way I’m sure many people at his show last week heard about the online sensation — my current suitemates stumbled upon his music on YouTube and played it for me. Ever since then, we had been scheming to have him come perform at UNC, trying to talk our friends in fraternities into booking him for a night or half-seriously trying to get him to come to homecoming. I pounced on a ticket to see him as soon as I got a chance.
I arrived about an hour before the show started last Friday, and already the line to get in stretched almost all the way around the building, full of high school and college kids. The air was spiked with youthful excitement. By the time the doors were opened, everyone had filed in and waited around for nearly an hour, and after the opener had performed, the place was ready to explode.
Where is Ugly God?
His performance was silly, frenetic and loud. When he finally skipped out on stage with a pair of ski goggles on sideways, he couldn’t help but smile at the thunderous cheers he received. The crowd turned into a mosh-pit.
I’ve never been so sweaty in my life. It makes sense that no one in sight (including Ugly God) looked older than 22 or 23. From start to finish, the show was a jumping, sweating, chanting knot of fandom.
One minute he was getting the crowd to chant “F*** Ugly God,” and the next he had us chant “Thanks Ugly God.” He performed songs from his new mixtape, “The Booty Tape,” as well as some of his older songs including “Bernie Sanders” and his hit song, “Water.”
The show came to a climax when he performed “Water.” He took an entire case of water bottles, threw them all over the crowd and instructed the audience to wait till the beat dropped and sling water everywhere.
