Lineup: Drake/Migos/Roy Woods (Aubrey & the Three Migos Tour)
Venue: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Roy Woods: I honestly had no idea there was an opener on this tour until the lights dimmed at 7:00 and someone that wasn't Migos came on stage. Roy Woods is a 22-year old R&B singer signed to Drake's OVO label and after this performance, it's easy to understand why. The young Canadian has a sparse, atmospheric style that draws an undeniable influence from the projects that helped make Mr. Graham a worldwide sensation. While his music had very little in the way of variation, Woods' smooth voice complemented the moody instrumentals well and that proved to be enough to keep his 25-minute set from becoming overly monotonous.
Migos: There was over an hour of inactivity on the stage after Roy Woods' set concluded, which made me very concerned about how this performance was going to play out. I've heard a solid amount of horror stories about Migos turning in brief, half-assed performances after taking an extended period of time to hit the stage, so naturally I feared a dreadful dud of a show could be in the cards. Thankfully, the exact opposite ended up occurring when Quavo, Takeoff and Offset finally came out. Their 50-minute set was a beautiful rush of pure, exhilarating fun. They performed each song on this surprisingly wide-spanning setlist (the presence of No Label II cut "Freak No More" made my night) with ample gusto and a level of efficiency that reaffirms why they're some of the finest technical rappers of their generation. Migos are a fantastic live act when they're on their game and I hope everybody that goes out to this tour is as fortunate as the roughly 16,000 people on hand at the TD Garden were last night.
Drake: Attending a Drake concert provides a visceral reminder of one of the best side effects of unfathomable fame: Over-the-top admiration. As the superstar rapper/singer rolled through a set that featured many of hits from earlier in this decade ("Started from the Bottom", "One Dance", "Energy"), a small sampling of his many recent notable guest spots (Rihanna's "Work", BlocBoy JB's "Look Alive", Travis Scott's "Sicko Mode") and of course, a healthy dose of material from his new double LP Scorpion, he displayed a level of command over the room that was truly unbelievable. Every song, snippet and piece of between song banter went over like it was the winning play in a big sports game. Being in a rowdy environment like this where people are consistently singing along, jumping around, etc. is a big part of what makes live music such a special experience and it certainly helped Drake's performance reach heights it likely it wouldn't achieved had the crowd been tamer.
I'd be remiss if I didn't also address the role his ridiculous production theatrics played in my enjoyment of the show. He regularly employed over-the-top gimmicks (the peak of which was bringing a fan on stage to shoot three shots on a light-up basketball hoop for a chance to win $25,000), set off a volume of pyro that would make any artist not named Rammstein or Kiss blush and performed on a stage that was essentially a giant video screen that projected a barrage of imagery including volcanos, giant Purple Scorpions and clips of people doing the "In My Feelings" challenge underneath him for the duration of the set. All of these shenanigans were flashy, excessive and delightfully corny. In other words, it was Drake in his purest, most imminently likable form and I wouldn't have changed a thing about it.
I've seen plenty of shows that were more impressive from a musical standpoint (to be fair, Drake's rapping and singing sounded very good for the bulk of the evening), but this will go down in the annals just for the sheer amount of jubilation that was in that room. Given how perpetually miserable mankind is, there's just something poetic about a large group of people putting that shit aside for a few hours and coming together to have a great fucking time. Shout out to Aubrey for being the musical equivalent of Buddy the Elf and allowing me to have faith in humanity for a little bit.
Grades:
Roy Woods: B-
Migos: A-
Drake: B+
Setlists:
Migos:
Hannah Montana
Handsome and Wealthy
Pipe It Up
Freak No More
Fight Night
Slippery
Deadz
Kelly Price
Ice Tray (Quality Control cover)
Ric Flair Drip (Offset solo)
I Get the Bag (Gucci Mane cover)
T-Shirt
Narcos
Bad and Bojuee
Motorsport
Drake:
8 Out of 10
Talk Up
Mob Ties
Started from the Bottom
Jumpman (Drake and Future cover)
Both (Gucci Mane cover)
Know Yourself
Emotionless
Elevate
Can't Take a Joke
Energy
Yes Indeed (Lil Baby cover)
10 year anniversary medley (Free Smoke/Trophies/Gyalchester/Pop Style/Over/Headlines/HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)/All Me/Blessings/For Free/The Motto/My Way (Remix) (Fetty Wap cover))
Walk It Talk It (w/Migos)
Portland (w/Migos)
(Drake leaves stage)
Hot Summer (DJ Durel cover)
Stir Fry
(Migos leave, Drake returns)
That's How You Feel
Don't Matter to Me
Rock with You (Michael Jackson cover)
After Dark
Jaded
Controlla
Work (Rihanna cover)
One Dane
Hotline Bling
Fake Love
Nice for What
In My Feelings
Look Alive (BlocBoy JB cover)
Sicko Mode (Travis Scott cover)
Nonstop
I'm Upset
God's Plan
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