It’s not often that a late-night musical guest backs up their “featured” artist, but that’s exactly what happened when The Free Nationals hit The Tonight Show‘s stage with Anderson .Paak in the role that they are perhaps best known for. Make no mistake, though, they shone just as brightly as their superstar guest during a lively performance of “Gidget” from the band’s upcoming, self-titled debut album.
The performance finds Anderson playing frontman with his usual ear-to-ear grin (best teef in the game, indeed), although his signature skullcap is replaced by a newsboy hat in deference to guitarist Jose Rios, who sports the knit cap look just as well as .Paak, and bassist Kelsey Gonzalez. Meanwhile, keyboardist Ron Avant gets his own time to shine along with the help of some Roger Troutman-esque talkbox on the song’s bridge. After the performance, .Paak makes sure to invite the band members to upstage to accept a raucous round of applause.
The Free Nationals have been promoting their long-awaited, self-titled album for months, releasing collaborations with Daniel Caesar, Mac MIller, JID, and Syd slowly over the course of 2019 as they prepped the release, which takes place in just two more weeks.
The Free Nationals is due December 13 via OBE, LLC/EMPIRE. Pre-order it here.
