Fans have no idea how much effort Emotional Oranges put into their shows. The group, comprised of Azad and Vali, has included intricate animations, dancers, and high production value to bring their ethereal yet punchy R&B across the world at a high cost.

“It takes a village to put together a show. We still haven’t made money from touring. We’re in the red over half a million dollars over the past four years because we’ve wanted to put on a great experience for our fans,” Azad told REVOLT.

In this installment of “Tour Tales,” the enigmatic duo explains the spiritual experience of performing in Cape Town, Mary J. Blige checking out their show, and the dozens of songs they’re ready to unleash on their fans later this year. Read the exclusive interview below.

Your first show as Emotional Oranges was in Toronto in May 2019, and you were somewhat hiding your identities. How did that approach affect your set?

Azad: You have to be really vulnerable to be able to put yourself out there already as a musician and a songwriter. The intention behind the show was to have people come and get to experience us. We weren’t putting ourselves out there on the internet like that, but Val and I put a lot into the show. So, I feel like people got to really get to know us.

Vali: I didn’t even know if it would be real (laughs). Our soundcheck was about two hours long because we tried to make it perfect. Then we asked, “Are people going to come? Is this real?” After we did our first song, “Unless You’re Drowning,” I remember looking at him and then looking out into the audience in the crowd. We were both like, “Wait, no, this is actually real.”

What were some mishaps you two learned from?

Azad: I vividly remember our show in Amsterdam at Bitterzoet [on June 4, 2019] when the sound went out. We’ve all loved Kevin Lyttle’s “Turn Me On,” but I never thought I’d see the day when 300 people would be singing that song with Val and our guitar player Mitch with no sound on. That was insane. I don’t know about you, Val, but that changed my whole perspective.

Vali: We were jamming to it in the dressing room before we went on. Then, the sound cut out in the middle of the set. I remember the mics were on, but nothing else. I just saw Azad run behind me to the sound guy and then run back the other way. Then, I looked over at Mitch and said, “’Turn Me On.’ Should we just sing it (laughs)?” He just starts playing these campfire guitar chords, and we start singing. That was a really significant moment where we showed we got each other onstage.

“The Sad Fruit Tour” was one of your first after the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine. How was it adjusting to being back on the road?

Vali: It was weird.

Azad: We were the only American act on European soil that didn’t cancel shows while the Russia and Ukraine issues were happening. We still sold out a whole bunch of those Europe cities.

Vali: But, the traveling was weird. We got to the airport, and because it was near the end of COVID, the security lines were hours long. So, I would put my scarf on like a diva, have my big glasses on, and Azad would go to the front and say, “I have this very big artist, and we need to skip the line. I have to get her on before anybody sees her.” And they’d be like, “Oh, my God! OK.” I wouldn’t say anything (laughs).

You’ve done almost every festival, from Life Is Beautiful to Coachella. Did any artists of note come to check out your sets?

Azad: Recently, at Halsey’s show in Bahrain, she told the crowd of 10,000 people, “I bet you guys didn’t know I was watching Emotional Oranges from right behind the stage.”

Vali: Also, Mary J. Blige walked in while we were performing. It was at her Strength of a Woman Festival in Atlanta. She walked in during our set and watched us on the screen.

What did you have to get used to when it came to touring?

Azad: Resources and investment are some things I’ve learned the hard way. I used to open up for some really dope people like Kendrick [Lamar] and Mos Def. But it’d be me and a DJ. I wouldn’t know what front of house is, what a visual person is, what stage design, or choreo or any of that is. It takes a village to put together a show. We still haven’t made money from touring. We’re in the red over half a million dollars over the past four years because we’ve wanted to put on a great experience for our fans. So, understanding the business has been the most challenging.

Vali: You want to know my answer? It’s the food (laughs). When you’re touring on your own, you eat whatever you want. When touring with Azad, you better know the best coffee spot in the city. You better know the best gluten-free option. Our food tour is a separate tour (laughs).

What are some of the most interesting fan interactions you’ve experienced?

Vali: Oh my god, there are so many (laughs). A fan came up onstage once and just started dancing. I was trying to dance with her before the security dragged her off. That was a weird fan moment that I remembered off top. We have fans who have waited for our bus for three hours in the cold in Vancouver.

Azad: For me, it was seeing so many hijabs when we were in Paris. I’m Iranian, and I grew up with a lot of Muslim women. I didn’t think our music connected with ’em like that, but that was awesome.

What is the most memorable show for each of you?

Vali: For me, it would be Cape Town. It was on my birthday, and I just remember hearing the fans singing before we even got onstage. That kind of shook me because I was in Africa and felt my father’s energy. He passed away about four years ago. That whole moment did something to me [that] I haven’t felt at too many of our shows. But we’ve had some great moments at other shows, too.

Azad: That was the 8 PM main stage slot, where I almost got burnt to smithereens because we had pyro, and they didn’t tell us (laughs). My dumb a** bouncing at the front of the stage, and I almost got barbecued, bro. Coachella was obviously crazy. I’m from LA, so that was nuts. We sold out 4,000 tickets at The Palladium in LA; my mom and dad were there. I used to go to shows there growing up. Then, in Korea, we co-headlined a festival for 15,000 people, where English is their second or third language. To hear them singing our album cuts was crazy. Then, Val and I’s faces were on a mural. We were the biggest faces on the mural. That was crazy.

What can fans expect from this upcoming summer tour?

Vali: It’s definitely going to be fun because it’s a festival run. When we do our festival shows, we give you all the meat and all the sauce, whereas our headline shows are intimate… You get to experience the different world of Emotional Oranges. We’re going to bring the heat. It’s going to be a real fun show.

Azad: We’re on some unique bills. We’re playing Electric Forest, which is a predominantly electronic crossover festival. So, you’re going to get a lot of our uptempo jam songs. But, then, we’re going to places like Latvia, where English isn’t their primary language. So, giving them some new covers is really going to be fun. We’re doing The Weeknd and Mario Winans’ “Creepin’” flip. That’s going to be a lot of fun.

What else do you have coming for the rest of 2023?

Azad: We have a project dropping. We got a lot of music coming. We’re independent, so there’s a whole lot of music on the way.

Vali: We have about 30 songs (laughs).

Azad: Track after track after track [and] different styles of music, too. As a producer, that’s a lot of fun for me. We get to experiment without weirdo corporate people saying we can’t put songs out because they’re not popping up or whatever.

Vali: We have multiple full projects ready.