As I noted in my Critic’s Choice, mysterious rapper Doom has all but admitted to sending imposters wearing his trademark mask to his live gigs to “perform” in his place. He’s never explained himself, but I figure he either thinks it’s some sort of performance art—perhaps in tribute to his clone-building comic-book namesake—or else he’s really as crazy as people say he is. I didn’t think he’d send a fake Doom to his show at the Congress Theater on Saturday for a couple of reasons. One, he was booked to perform with Mos Def, with whom he’s collaborating on the sequel to Doom and Madlib’s Madvillainy album, and presumably he wouldn’t want to piss off or embarrass his partner. Two, enraging a sold-out Congress crowd seems like it could be dangerous for whoever actually did get up onstage. I wasn’t there, but from the reports and clips I’ve seen, the odds that Doom ever set foot in the venue seem pretty slim.
Yesterday Fake Shore Drive’s Andrew Barber broke down Saturday’s show, where set times ran late, Mos Def put on a confusing set that was half Doom covers, and someone who almost definitely wasn’t Doom performed in the headlining spot. Video evidence, also via Fake Shore Drive, after the jump.