Salem State University got a rare moment of big-school glitz when the Verge Campus Tour featuring Rae Sremmurd, Mike Stud and KaneHoller rolled through the small, suburban Massachusetts campus last night. This was the first time since I transferred to Salem State in the fall of 2012 that a major concert was held on campus, so naturally I was excited to finally get the experience that so many of my friends that attended other universities had every year they were in school. Unfortunately, the show that ended Salem State's major concert dry spell ended up being a thoroughly underwhelming experience.
California-based electropop duo KaneHoller opened up the night. Before KaneHoller came out, the show's host went on a long rant about keeping the energy up the whole night. Based on the level of enthusiasm this speech was met with, it seemed liked the crowd was going to honor his request. However, as soon as KaneHoller came out and started playing, the electric atmosphere that was in the room instantly vanished. KaneHoller's performance was about as energetic as a nursing home cribbage game. Every single song featured the same lo-fi synth beat on a loop and lifeless choruses that were repeated to the point where I seriously contemplated vomiting in the middle of the floor. Adding to the sterile nature of their music was the fact that both members of the group stood around the stage like there were in the most boring trance in human history. The only time the group or the crowd showed any life was when they broke out into a random 5-minute techno instrumental interlude in the middle of their set. Given how poorly their normal songs were received, this seemed like a cheap gimmick to win over the crowd and while it certainly worked for most of the audience, it just left me cringing. Synthpop is a genre that I normally have a soft spot for, but KaneHoller lacked the intensity and memorable hooks that's required to make it work.
Mike Stud was up next. This kid has emerged out of nowhere recently to become a viral sensation, so I was intrigued to check out his set and see what all the hype was about. Stud came out and got about 20 seconds into his first song before his mic malfunctioned, which caused him to leave the stage for nearly 10 minutes while the problem got resolved. Once the technical difficulties were figured out, Stud came out and finished the rest of his set without incident. While Stud didn't put on an objectively bad show (his stage presence and rapping/singing were respectable), his style of poppy, fratboy-friendly hip-hop just didn't click with me. Stud writes nothing but cheesy, formulaic songs about drinking and getting girls that are solely made for high school and college kids who typically don't listen to rap. In other words, he's cornering the market on cornball white party rap now that Sam Adams and Asher Roth have faded into obscurity. Music like this can be fun once in a while, but it gets old really quick. If you're a fan of Stud's work, you'll enjoy the hell out of his performance. If you're not, his live show will do nothing to change your mind.
Headliner Rae Sremmurd took the stage to wrap up the night after a surprisingly brief 10-minute changeover. While I'm a pretty big fan of their debut album SremmLife, I was kind of nervous to see them because I've heard rumblings that they're a terrible live act. These rumors proved to be true. I can say with total certainty that Rae Sremmurd are amongst the laziest and most unpolished performers I've ever seen. They spent the duration of their 45-minute set lip-syncing, jamming out to their music and yelling out random shit about Halloween and smoking weed while only occasionally bothering to actually rap along with their overpowering backing tracks. Live shows are a huge part of being a professional musician and if you can't be bothered to actually perform your music for your fans who dished out their hard-earned money to see you, you don't deserve to have a record deal or bask in the glory of fame and fortune. Don't get me wrong, both Swae Lee and Slim Jimmy have a shitload of energy and are experts at hyping up a crowd, they just don't care enough about their craft to put any legitimate effort into their live performance. I'll still listen to Rae Sremmurd's studio material because it's a whole lot of fun to listen to, but I wouldn't even entertain the thought of seeing them live again.
Scores:
Kane Holler 2/10
Mike Stud 4/10
Rae Sremmurd 2.5/10
Setlist
Rae Sremmurd (missing 4-5 songs, but I'm sure they closed with "This Could Be Us" and "No Type"):
Lit Like Bic (intro played over PA)
Come Get Her
No Flex Zone
Blase (Ty Dolla $ign cover)
My X
YNO
Nightcrawler (Travi$ Scott cover)
Safe Sex Pay Checks
Throw Some Mo (left during this song)
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