A$AP Rocky at Margaret Court Arena, Wednesday 17th Feb 2016
Inside Margaret Court Arena, Atlanta performer Raury’s heart was bleeding for the audience. “Anyone can get up here where I am”, he said with polished sincerity, “But it comes at a price”. There was a dramatic pause, “I left the love of my life to be here” he finished, and a faint ‘Aww’ was heard somewhere in the arena before it was quickly drowned out by a louder voice yelling “Fuck that bitch!” followed by laughter.
Centre stage and bathed in a spotlight, Raury comfortably picked up an acoustic guitar for song ‘Her’ about his mystery girl, then abandoned it for ‘Trap Tears’, the bass for which must have been coming from underground, as only a guitarist and drummer were on stage with Raury. “Some songs are for the people…” began Raury, trying to catch the audience’s attention again to share a moment. “And some songs are for the profit” he continued, sadly lowering his head. A cheer rang out from the crowd.
Some lighting and effect checks during intermission made the crowd listless. Shouts of ‘ASAP, ASAP’ were half-hearted and quickly died out. The rappers latest album, AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP, was released May 2015, perhaps too long ago for the tour to be freshly exciting.
Suddenly Puff Daddy could be heard coming from speakers on stage, as two DJs appeared behind decks covered in the white cloth that hung from the ceiling above the stage like marble columns. As A$AP Ferg’s appearance on ABC music video show Rage revealed, the whole A$AP mob loves a good Puff Daddy track, the showmanship in particular, though as A$AP Rocky walked on stage smiling, his toothy grin was more reminiscent of an American Gangster (2007) era Denzel Washington. Rocky commanded the stage with the same charisma, talking of hard work leading one to prosper, and laughing as fake money floated down to the now very excited audience.
Flittering between tracks off the new album, and old favourites, recent single ‘L$D’ got the most favourable crowd response, followed by a tribute to deceased A$AP Mob member Yams, ‘Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2’. Rocky cruised across the stage, his bright orange pants clashing with the camouflage print projected onto the white cloth. He grabbed a shoe that had been thrown onto the stage, and teased audience members calling out before chucking it, turning just in time to miss someone from the stands above hurtle a water bottle onto the lucky audience member below.
Towards the end of the set, an A$AP Ferg cover, ‘Shabba’ prompted more crowd interaction, with Rocky focusing on hanging either stage left or right, apart from stopping a girl who was being carried out for a hug. Noticing a larger ratio of ladies to dudes in the audience, A$AP Rocky treated the crowd to an A Capella verse of ‘F***en Problems’, and before anyone knew it, the house lights were up and Puff Daddy was playing on the speakers again.
