Chance the Rapper took us to a weird puppet church during an electric show at the Midland last night

Last night’s sold-out Chance the Rapper show at the Midland began as an enormous and surreal hassle. Opener Francis and the Lights was supposed to take the stage at 8 p.m. (with doors at 7:30 p.m.), yet 1,500-plus young fans wrapped around the outside of the Midland well after 9, from the Main Street entrance back around the corner of Baltimore Avenue, when the doors finally opened.

I reluctantly joined the line, eavesdropping on conversations about taking tests, smoking pot and how many hours were driven to come to the show. A man walked up to the line, somewhat boldly offering $1 shots of warm vodka from a 1.75-liter bottle in his pocket (or ecstasy for $15, probably totally good, real stuff). A handful of more legitimate vendors sold snacks and water to the waiting audience.

Once the crowd cleared the metal detectors to get in, anyone with floor seats — hundreds of people — was directed to go downstairs to get a wristband that identified the wearer as GA-certified. This was a horrible, horrible idea. The lobby became a crush of hundreds of teenagers and college students, wall to wall, all pushing to get downstairs to get their wristbands. It took most of the floor audience well over an hour to get out to the floor, between the late open, the lobby smooshing and the wristband cluster. It sucked, and I wondered how it could possibly be worthwhile.

Yet it was — that is how good Chance the Rapper has become. His absolute charisma exploded onstage from the second he stepped his feet onto it, and his magnetic energy fascinated and charged the audience for more than 80 minutes of fun. There were puppets and confetti cannons, and three tiers of LCD screens. He didn’t need any of it.

Lauded for his clever style and creative flow, Chancelor Bennett has received a ton of praise (and deservedly so) for refusing to sign with a label. He self-releases his music basically for free via digital platforms. He likely will never agree to work with a label. By the looks of his show last night, he has absolutely no need for it. His audience knows every word to his songs. His show has been sold out for months. He is not your typical star, and this show was not a typical show.

The show was 90 percent concert and 10 percent theater performance, with a large lion puppet named Carlos standing in for Chance’s conscience, guiding him between several of the night’s songs, which flashed from Acid Rap to Coloring Book, to find his message. Later in the show, a choir of puppets acted as a gospel choir. As they do in most settings, the puppets got tiresome fairly quickly (like skits on rap albums). Overall, though, and perhaps in spite of the puppets, the visuals in the show were stunning, from the lights to the diverse projections on the LCD screens. 

Back to Chance’s message — it is one that tends these days more toward redemption through God than having fun or smoking weed. Yet even though Chance has seemingly begun to find a little more salvation than in days past, he hasn’t forgotten that his audience is there for a good time.

“We should just jump up and down. We should shake that bitch,” he said, beaming. “You know, if we got everyone, guards and bartenders and everyone, we can make the building’s foundation shake.” And the audience did jump, responding to the music with cheers often louder than the music itself. 

The energy — while Chance certainly had enough of it, jumping, dancing freely and splashing the crowd with water — was heightened by the presence of a live band, including musicians on drums, trumpet and synthesizer. While supplemented with electronic percussion, the addition of live drums made much of the music feel immediate and raucous. 

I don’t make songs for free / I make ’em for freedom, noted Chance early in the show. What he created, with confetti cannons blazing by the end of the night, band roaring and audience in sync, did feel a bit like freedom. It was a joyful and fun performance, one worth nearly any amount of hassle to see again. 

Setlist (approximate; please leave changes in the comments):

Angels

Blessings

Pusha Man

Smoke Again

Cocoa Butter Kisses

Favorite Song

Brain Cells

Smoke Break

Juke Jam

Same Drugs

Baby Blue (Action Bronson)

Ultralight Beam (Kanye West)

No Problem

Mixtape

All Night

Grown Ass Kid

Sunday Candy

How Great

Finish Line / Drown

Blessings (Reprise)

Encore:

Summer Friends

Friends