I live in Ohio. Combine that with the fact that my favorite musicians aren’t megastars, with millions of fans, and the end result is me not getting to see a lot of the shows that I really want to see; unless I travel, which up until recently I never gave much thought.
Back in January, my two favorite artists, Travi$ Scott and Young Thug, announced that, along with Metro Boomin, they’d be hitting the road for their Rodeo tour. I immediately checked the dates and of course there wasn’t one stop in Ohio. Even still, I made the decision right then and there that I would not miss this show. The closest shows to me were in Detroit and Chicago. The choice was easy; the Chicago show was the move. Within minutes, my ticket was paid for and my trip was a done deal.
Sunday March 8th, 2015. 8:23pm. Concord Music Hall.
After already spending one night in Chicago and hanging out all day, it was finally time for the show. Along with a friend who was as excited for this concert as me, I was dropped off at the venue (thanks, Uber).
The line was the longest line I had ever seen in the history of long ass lines. If you’re familiar with Chicago, you know Milwaukee Avenue is a pretty long street. This line had to stretch for at least two blocks, with nothing but kids in hoodies, hard denim and dope sneakers.
After about 30 minutes of being in line, we finally made it into the venue, where I could hear Travi$ Scott performing his verse from “Sloppy Toppy” and I’m like “Damn! He’s already on stage!”. We were missing his set, and I’d like to think it was because of the line. Nonetheless, we were officially in the building as La Flame would do two more songs (“Basement Freestyle” and “Backyard”), leaving the building shaking; literally. It felt like the floor was about to cave in, as we bounced up and down like we were on a trampoline.
A brief pause was taken to address the crowd, before Young Thug came walking on to the stage in long johns and Toms, which I thought was pretty bizarre for an artist to wear while performing, but then again, this is Young Thug. Shortly after his appearance, he performed “Givenchy” and “730”, which brought me the biggest sense of relief. Why? Because I thought by us being late to the show, we missed Young Thug’s set, but that wasn’t the case. A kid in the crowd told me they were sharing the stage all night and would be taking turns doing songs. Not sure how true that was, but nonetheless I nodded and continued enjoying the show.
With the lights down low, it was Travi$’ turn again, as he began the intro to his song “Drugs, You Should Try It”. I figured this would mellow the crowd out, who had been previously pretty reckless, mainly due to all the moshing, but as soon as the beat dropped, the energy was once again at insane levels, and following that song with the Young Thug-assisted “Mamacita”, made it that much crazier.
It was official. I was in the midst of the craziest live show ever. From me yelling the lyrics to these songs at the top of my lungs to the pushing and shoving I felt like I was at a rock concert; and I was loving it. My shoes were getting destroyed and I didn’t even care!
Then the best and worst part of the night happened all at once.
“Let’s break the record!”, screamed Metro Boomin as Travi$ and Thugger’s hit, “Skyfall” began to play, causing the building to completely erupt! By “record”, he was referring to the fact that in previous cities they performed this song multiple times in a row. So now, in Chicago, it was time to see how many times they could do it. It was wild. We made it to about three performances of the song, when Travi$ stopped and said “Yeah they’re trying to kick us outta here. Something about a curfew. But we ain’t goin’ nowhere!”. He started to perform “Skyfall” for a fourth time, when his mic was cut off and the lights were turned on, causing boos and a chant of “We want more!”
I was pissed and in my head I’m like “I really hope this is part of the show”. But it wasn’t. It was really a wrap, and after holding out as long as they could, Travi$ Scott, Young Thug and the rest of the crew reluctantly exited the stage. The Chicago stop of the Rodeo tour was done; a hour early.
All in all, I can say that despite only being there a good 35 minutes, I enjoyed myself. There are a few songs I didn’t get to hear, like “Danny Glover” and “Don’t Play”, and what bothers me most about that is not knowing if it was because we were late or because the show was shut down early.
The hype surrounding Travi$ Scott’s live show is very real. If you’ve never been to a show, please make that move before you die.
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