A$AP Ferg and Tory Lanez’ “Level Up” tour finished up this past Friday, cialis June 24th at Boston’s House of Blues. The sold-out double bill was packed with enthusiastic fans that witnessed a show decidedly on a new level.
Boston artists Just Juice and Della Kinetic opened things up. The pair delivered a high-energy set that ended with a bang as they performed Just Juice’s recent single “Lavish.” The pair’s set was solid and gave the crowd just enough time to hype up for the headliners.
Tory Lanez was the first on stage after a quick DJ set to energize the crowd. The Toronto rapper has been a controversial figure recently, mind reportedly turning down a spot in XXL Mag’s “Freshman Class”, a yearly feature showcasing and promoting newly established artists. He claims to have plans to snatch the title of Toronto’s #1 rapper from Drake, and Lanez’ group The New Toronto is called out for this on tracks like “Summer ’16”.
Lanez’ set at the House of Blues didn’t quite display the talent to back up those claims with the rapper seeming more focused on delivering the wildest performance possible rather than the best. Opening the show with a few brief 90’s throwback covers and teasing the crowd for being too young to remember classics like Ginuwine’s “Pony” (though Lanez himself was three years old when the song came out). Lanez soon ditched smooth vocals for much harder beats, reminiscent of his own career transition from falsetto-heavy tracks to the darker sound of The New Toronto.
The craziest moment of the night happened when Lanez launched into a cover of Future’s “Tony Montana” and surfed his way to the edge of the crowd, grabbed onto a fan’s lowered hand and climbing up onto the second balcony in the theater. He made his way entirely around the perimeter and back down, met with fear and delight as he was carried around the House of Blues. While Lanez’ set didn’t wasn’t sonically distinguishing enough to back up the big game he’s been talking, he was an undeniably strong performer.
After a short break, A$AP Ferg exploded onto the stage with a performance of his track “Dump Dump”, wearing an open zebra-print bathrobe over a bright purple Prince t-shirt. Ferg’s set included mostly older material, perhaps in consideration of the lukewarm response to Always Strive and Never Prosper. The rapper did perform “Hungry Ham”, prefacing the personal track by talking about his upbringing in Hamilton Heights. On the studio album, inconsistent production choices got in the way of Ferg’s new direction, but in person the performance was entirely on point and as energetic as the rest of the set. He seemed focused, if not slightly disengaged from the audience, throughout the night, going in hard on every track but not warming up to the crowd completely until the final few songs.
Coming back out for some final songs together Lanez and Ferg shared a strong vibe on stage, playing off of each other’s energy and riling up the crowd. The two performed Ferg’s single “New Level” as the energy in the room peaked. They ended with an intense finish, as Ferg performed crowd favorite and certified banger “Shabba”. Everyone was screaming, drinks were spilling, water was being thrown on the audience. Then just like that, the house lights came up, and the show and the tour had come to an end.
