Nylon Nights
Leon Thomas’ Blond Sessions Performance Gave The Club An Introspective New Vibe
“I don’t need people to be super-sweaty after my shows. The experience is internal.”
Most nights, The Blond is buzzing, either from the speakers blasting music or from the cacophony of people partying in the club. The second floor spot of 11 Howard is typically a mainstay of the downtown club-hopping circuit of ACME, Casablanca, Gospël, and (Sub)Mercer. On June 4, though, a different crowd filled the room.
Before the pandemic and the closure of the Gramercy Park Hotel and Rose Bar, the latter would routinely pause its raucous party operations for low-key concerts from some rising talents in the music industry. While there is no more Rose Bar to house these shows, The Blond has stepped in and revived the series as with a kickoff in May featuring Patrick Droney. The second installment brought artist Leon Thomas to the stage, and his fans followed for an intimate concert.
Thomas — a Grammy-nominated songwriter who’s co-written on Ariana Grande’s “Yours Truly” and co-produced SZA’s “Snooze” — is hard at work on his next album, and this session was the first stop of many. During his solo act, the artist flowed from rap to melodic R&B tunes, to guitar riffs and gospel (and that was just in his abbreviated set); the crowd responded in kind by swaying to the music.
“I want them to get to know me better,” Thomas tells NYLON. “I want them to feel these songs and take it all in. If they want to be a little more introspective, that’s cool with me. I don’t need people to be super-sweaty after my shows. The experience is internal.” Thomas, who usually plays with a full band, also brought a different energy to his usual gigs by bringing in some improvisation. “There’s a lot more funk, a lot more jamming,” he says, “you can get a taste of just me on guitar.”
The room was also filled with Thomas’s friends and industry peers, including the artists MaKenzie and Myles Lloyd, Kamari Bonds from the Netflix show Twentysomethings, and Kamie Crawford. After the session, the crowd stuck around to talk shop and sip glasses of white wine (a departure from the club’s typical vodka-soda energy), while coming to congratulate Thomas. But soon, it’s back to The Blond’s regularly scheduled programming — until the next session in July.
