Drake and the Migos’ tour-opening show, last night at Sprint Center
A few short months ago, the Drake-Pusha T beef was dominating rap headlines and shaping up to be the hip-hop narrative of the summer. How things change. Pusha has canceled half his tour, likely due to poor sales. Meanwhile, every single from Drake’s new album, Scorpion, has charted in the top ten, and his tour-opening show Sunday night at Sprint Center sold 17,000 tickets.
Still, Drake’s latest run of dates — featuring the Migos, it’s dubbed the “Aubrey and the Three Migos” tour — started off with a wobble. He postponed the opening date, rerouting the tour so that it kicked off in Kansas City. Then he postponed the Kansas City date, from Friday to Sunday. Rumors had begun to circulate that all might not be well in Drakeland.
But whatever the issues were, they were ironed out by Sunday. And whatever gripes fans might have had about it all, they seemed to disappear the moment the Canadian superstar took the stage.
It felt like a one-man military parade: Scorpion singalongs, a tasteful cover of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” older hits like “Know Yourself,” all of them dropped back to back to back over the course of 95 minutes, like a World War II bomber emptying its belly. On the latter’s chorus, hearing Drake’s slow creep accelerate into an adrenalized gallop was enough to whisk thousands of us back to the song’s glory days.
It wasn’t just the volume of hits, though; Drake had tricks up his sleeve — watercooler stuff you may even have already heard about. During “Yes Indeed” — Atlanta rapper Lil Baby’s breakout collab track — a life-sized yellow Ferrari replica balloon floated around the arena. Another outlandish moment: a fan pulled on stage to stand next to Drake and shoot hoops for cash. He sunk the first of three increasingly difficult shots, taking home $250 and a piece of tour merch.
Before diving into a medley that included bite-sized pieces of nearly a dozen throwback hits, Drake noted that his relationship with Kansas City goes back 10 years. While this is likely the case with many large cities across America, the feelings of intimacy the statement engendered felt real — a Drizzy hallmark. The lightning-round style of medley was also utilized during his Summer Sixteen tour toward similar purposes: most fans lost their minds, while music nerds ached to hear more than 10 seconds of each song.
The presentation of finale “God’s Plan” was also studded with emotional underpinnings. A reel of home videos was projected onto the big screens prior to the song: footage of Drake baby-faced, pre-beard, working on an early album, seeing his name on a marquee. For a moment, Drake’s triumphs and progress seemed to be ours to share.
By the end of Sunday’s show, the Migos had been onstage for at least an hour. Their 50-minute opening set saw the trio reveling in their transformation into trap superheroes. Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff each donned a different colored jumpsuit — evidently designed by Tripp — as they bounced around the stage at a slow, hypnotic pace, taunting haters with their chains and flashing jewel-encrusted smiles. A rendition of “Deadz” that was equal parts menacing and dazzling was a highlight of the opening set, allowing for the group’s autotuned raps and effortless swagger to be absorbed unimpeded.
The trio didn’t have much banter to provide during their set, but that slack was picked up by DJ Durel. Durel has been the Migos’ go-to DJ and producer for years now, having hosted some of their earliest mixtapes, so when the same voice that amped things up on many a YRN classic asked fans to shout their loudest “MIGO!” ever, those of us who have followed the group felt obliged to do just that. The trio later returned for a mini-set in the middle of Drake’s headlining marathon that included a historic, first-ever full performance of their collaborative “Versace” remix.
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