The indomitable Sage Francis approached the Belly Up stage sporting a tiara, politician wig, sunglasses with X’s painted over the eyes, and a flag tied around his neck like a cape. As the familiar drums of “Personal Journalist” exited the speakers, the impeccably-dressed emcee tore into the multisyllabic rhyme schemes and clever wordplay of an “oldies but goodies” set. It was somewhat strange seeing Sage by his lonesome after years of touring with a rotating door of backing musicians, but within the evening’s essence of taking it all back to where it started, the one man band delivered.

Affectionately rapping into the sneaker he had kicked off mid-verse and placed on the mic stand, Sage planted delicate kisses on his perched footwear throughout “Climb Trees.” Past live renditions of this song have seen the lumberjack-bearded wordsmith go …