Concert Review: Vince Staples-- Boston, MA-- March 28th, 2017

Lineup: Vince Staples/Kilo Kish ("The Life Aquatic Tour")
Venue: Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
Date: March 28th, 2017

Kilo Kish: Unlike a majority of the sold-out crowd at the Paradise last night, I was completely indifferent towards the half-hour performance from Vince Staples' frequent collaborator. Her take on modern R&B is admirably experimental and featured the occasional beautiful melody/hook, but her subdued stage presence and generally mellow sound made her an ill-fitting opener for an incendiary artist like Staples.  

Vince Staples: The Vince Staples hype train was built on his no-holds-barred aggression and brutal honesty about growing up in the rough streets of Long Beach, California. In a not-so-shocking twist, that authentic, palatable rage carries his live performance. While he's not big on crowd-work or moving around on stage, his venom-tinged delivery and no bullshit-attitude allows him to create a frenzied atmosphere that rivals the shows of more conventionally rowdy rappers (ScHoolboy Q, Run the Jewels, Danny Brown). The oddly high number of slow songs in the set ("Lemme Know", "Surf", "Summertime") and heavy use of backing tracks on the material from his 2016 EP Prima Donna halted the momentum at times, but for the most part, this set was a strong showcase of the raw intensity that makes Staples one of hip-hop's brightest young talents.

Scores:
Kilo Kish 5/10
Vince Staples 8/10

Setlist:
Vince Staples:
Prima Donna
3230
Smile
Fire
Lift Me Up
Jump Off the Roof
Senorita
Lemme Know
Birds & Bees
Big Time
Little Bit of This (GTA cover)
Smoke & Retribution (Flume cover)
Ghost (Major Lazer cover)
War Ready
Hands Up
Loco
Surf
BagBak
Blue Suede

Encore:
Norf Norf
Summertime