No, this isn’t the Jimi Hendrix experience — it is the Future Hndrxx experience. Future is on the road again for his second tour this summer. His tour early this summer was called the ‘Nobody Safe’ tour— with headliners that included Migos, Tory Lanez, Kodak Black, Young Thug, and ASAP Ferg. The tour proved to be a big success so he followed it up with the Future Hndrxx tour. The headliners was this tour are a mixed bunch. I caught Future’s show at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore Maryland on August 21. The Headliners included Post Malone and Zoey Dollaz. There was anticipate in the air throughout the city. The line to the concert circled around the building as people eagerly waited to gain entrance into the venue. Girls dressed to the 9s hoping to catch a glimpse of Future in the back of the venue. You could smell weed easily in the air — very crisp and strong. This is to be expected at a Future concert.
I arrived at the venue very late — my goal was to see Future and Future only. I have never been one for headliners. I managed to catch Post Malone’s set. As I walked into the arena, I was captivated by how packed it was mostly and how many people came just to see Future. I shouldn’t be too surprised because the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) is a big market for him. Although I only know two Post Malone songs, I found that I was strangely entertained by the new songs by him I was hearing. His set lasted for maybe 45 minutes, but the audience knew every word of his hit songs and lesser known songs. I was shocked by how much of a hip-hop fanbase Post Malone has. The connection Post Malone had with the audience was undeniable. When he preformed, “White Iverson”, his breakthrough first hit, the audience broke out in song. At certain moments he gave the audience the spotlight to sing the lyrics to “White Iverson”. His final song was “Congratulations”, he preluded it with a story of how many people he knew didn’t believe in him, didn’t think he would be the star that he is today. Then he says when the people see him now, all they say is congratulations. I personally thought that was an impressive way to maneuvered into the next song.
After his performance, we waited about 30 minutes for Future to begin his set. As soon as he came on stage, the crowd immediately began screaming and everyone stood up. Future’s set design was very interesting and mirrored a computer malfunctioning. As the show progressed, the screen would change to match the song playing. With him, he had three back up dancers; I must say, the dancers were probably most enjoyable part about the whole show. The dancers seemed to be young school boys and his moves were impressive through the show. There was a unmatched synergy amongst them and even when they did some dances with Future. The first song Future preformed was “Draco”, a new song from his self titled album. For the first 20 minutes, he went through his songs from his latest mixtape he dropped this year. Then in the middle of the set, he preformed his old songs for his ‘day 1’ fans, these songs include “Same Damn Time” and “Karate Chop”. Later on in the show, he preformed the songs that made him a household name. Back in 2015, Future had a winning year. He released classic mixtapes back to back, one of them being 56 Nights. Despite being a Future fan since his song ‘Tony Montana’, I fell in love once I heard 56 nights. The public agreed because during summer 2015, there was no party you went to that that you didn’t hear any song from 56 nights. He preformed about three songs from this mixtape and everyone, including myself knew all the lyrics. Towards the end of the show, he preformed his wider known songs such as “Bugatti”, “Love Me” and “Move That Dope”. For his final song, he preformed his immensely popular song “Mask Off” that introduced him to mainstream America.
I generally do not attend rap concerts aside from J.Cole; for a rap show Future had a lot of energy moving throughout the stage, interacting with the audience and busting out in dance with his three back-up dancers. The audience clearly felt a special connection with Future as they cheered him on and sang every word to every song. Future has undeniably generated a very loyal fanbase that isn’t afraid to show their support at his shows. Would I attend another Future concert again? Of course, I am apart of Future hive.
