No faces needed fixing at Masego’s dazzling tour kickoff in Dallas

Masego could have opened his Fix Your Face Tour anywhere; he chose Dallas.

Tuesday night’s show began with support from Columbus, Ohio singer Lekan. His 30-minute set, which included originals and a praise break to sing “Turning Around for Me” by VaShawn Mitchell, left the room swooning. Don’t let our brevity here confuse you, though — his modest discography, including his newly-released debut record, “For All the Right Reasons,” is packed with buzz-worthy tracks. And his set on Tuesday made clear he’s an artist to keep an eye on.

Masego walked onto the South Side Ballroom stage to a setup draped in white curtains similar to old Hollywood aesthetics. Wearing all black, he and his band were already locked in with high energy on the first song, “Wonderwoman,” from his new album, “Fix Your Face,” an introspective 16-track record released last month. He followed that up with “Limerence” and then his Kirk Franklin-inspired cut “Heaven,” which had the crowd singing the chorus back to him every time it came around. He then worked a production setup he had onstage, pulling the song’s standout sounds out of the mix for an atmospheric rendition.

“Good and Plenty,” the Alex Isley collaboration he appears on with Jack Dine, set a new tone as the stage was washed with lavender lighting. He kicked the song off rocking the mic side to side before grabbing a saxophone to the crowd’s delight. Next up, “Someone” made room for a guitar solo as Masego gave shine to a member of his backing band. 

“Make some noise for musicianship. Make some noise for this black man playing an instrument,” he told the crowd.

“Symone” offered yet another highlight of Masego’s own musicianship before he dove into “Navajo,” where his rap skills were on full display with a smooth cadence as phones went up and the crowd danced and sang it back. A projection of a starry night sky then set the mood for Lekan’s return to the stage as they performed their collaboration on “Gone.” To preface the next cut, titled “Dotted Line,” Masego sat down at a piano and told us his family thinks of it as wedding song. “That’s beautiful,” he said as he finished.

The rest of the set felt less like a formal concert and more like an invitation into an intimate studio session with him.

“I did the vulnerable thing — let me make a beat from scratch,” he told the crowd. “Got me out here naked. If it’s a good beat, send that to me. If it’s not, delete that shit. Ya feel me?”

And so he did, in fact, make a beat from scratch right there onstage, walking the crowd through his process as it happened. As he stacked the sounds live, his creative instinct was laid bare in a moment fans rarely get to see up close.

“The vulnerability is done. I’m here to party,” he said before moving into “Unhinged,” a standalone single released last year. By the time he finished, the crowd’s singing along had basically taken over the end of the song.

His Jamaican roots were on full display as he went into “Recommend” and “Hello,” a collaboration with Buju Banton, the latter of which flowed into a DJ set that let him and the band vibe out. He stayed in the Caribbean with “Go,” closing it on a saxophone line and a drum breakdown.

The energy spiked when “Mystery Lady” came up in the setlist as Masego grabbed a handful of roses and threw them out to the crowd. Someone threw a pair of panties onstage in return, and he lifted them on the mic stand, waving it like a flag.

The last few songs of the night turned things all the way up, though. “Tadow” made the audience scream at the top of their lungs, as he again reached for the saxophone as phones went up across the room. “Yamz” held the momentum before the final crescendo of “QVC,” the Leon Thomas-featured standout on the new album.

For a tour built on a record about grief, faith and heartbreak, Masego spent his tour opener more like a celebration of true musicianship.