Youth Are Awesome had the privilege of sending a member of our team to the Drake concert at the Big 4 building in Calgary on Sunday July 25th, 2010. I’ve always disliked attending hip hop concerts in Calgary because it always brings the worst out in our city. I am in no way knocking hip hop culture because I think hip hop is a powerful outlet for artists. But I do believe there are some negative aspects of hip hop or the perceived culture of hip hop., For example, while standing in line I saw a person smash a glass bottle for no reason. Also, the group of people standing in front of me started smoking cigars and yelling that they were “so baller”. Now I could have had these experiences at any concert but history dictates that it hasn’t happened.
Getting into the building took about 1 hour and when I got in I was super disappointed. The Big 4 building is essentially a giant hanger/warehouse. For those who enjoy their music this isn’t the place you want to see a band or a musical act. The venue lacks any character of acoustics. Concerts at auditoriums offer great sound while outdoor concerts (such as the Folk Fest) offer an experience. This building offered me the opportunity to feel like I was getting ready to move shipping crates. Security and police officers lined the walls and there was one small merchandise stand offering a few t-shirts. I quickly thought “they didn’t even try”. I was worried about this happening but I thought someone like Drake would make it work. But, I was wrong and this was clearly a stop over event where the artist just slapped it all together.
The bright side was that Drake was scheduled to go on at 9:30pm which is a decent start time for any concert. He took the stage at his scheduled time and the crowd went nuts. I’ve been following Drake since his days on Degrassi. I ordered his very first mixtape from his website and received a personalized autographed copy. Seeing him take the stage was pretty exciting. From the first track the audience was into him. Drake raps like very few rappers. I’ve often explained that he’s the type of rapper where I listen and understand his lyrics. The entire crowd was dancing and getting fired up. But, the mood quickly changed after about 30 minutes. People were getting antsy and some even started to leave. Drake’s problem was that he wasn’t performing full songs. He bounced around from track to track and gave verses from each but didn’t perform the entire track. Whereas someone like Jay-Z or Kanye West gave amazing performances in Calgary, it felt like Drake was playing around and didn’t really have a strong grasp on the live performance.
His set lasted about 70 minutes and I took off as soon as he was done. I was disappointed with the concert as a whole. It just felt like he didn’t try and the overall experience was a good one. For those who attended, drop your thoughts in the comments box.
I felt exactly the same way! We walked out and just said… "wow, that was unprofessional."
Considering Drake is THE up and coming hip hop artist, I expected a lot more than that. Also, the standing room only was lame. I'd have paid twice the amount not to have to stand amongst 500 sweaty teens and their joints.
Shame on the event crew! I still love Drake though. 🙂
I love Drake as well which is why the concert was so disappointing. The Jay Z concert a while back was amazing and I was really hoping Drake would do something great, not Jay Z great, but great.