All photos by Ariana LaBarrie/fresh pair of iis

Vince Staples is on a touring spree as of late. He was on tour last year with Tyler The Creator to support his Big Fish Theory album, and was on The Life Aquatic tour in 2017 for the Prima Donna EP.  This year, he is on the Smile, You’re On Camera tour, making a stop at Royal Oak Music Theatre.

The title of the tour wasn’t just a tongue-in-cheek nod to the phrase on security cameras; the set design included live steams of the crowd “caught on camera.” Vince Staples always has amazing set designs for his shows. During The Life Aquatic tour, his screen was a big fish tank (you can see photos from that tour here), so it was not surprise his following album was named Big Fish Theory.  I wouldn’t be surprised if his next album title was a nod to surveillance.

Vince Staples has this get up and go energy for each show.  He starts off strong and has the same momentum throughout the entire show. It is the type of spirit that makes his albums come alive.

Check out the set list below for the show. Tour dates are here.

1. Feels Like Summer
2. Don’t Get Chipped
3. Lift Me Up
4. Street Punks
5. Relay
6. War Ready
7. 745
8. Rain Come Down
9. Tweakin’
10. Big Fish
11. Outside!
12. Run the Bands
13. Get the Fuck Off My Dick
14. Señorita
15. No Bleedin
16. FUN!
17. BagBak
18. Party People
19. Blue Suede
20. Norf Norf
21. Yeah Right
22. Mac Miller NPR Tiny Desk Concert Video

Photos by Ariana LaBarrie/fresh pair of iis

Nao’s energy is magnetic and you feel like you are being pulled into her orbit. That is the best way to describe the captivating performance that Nao put on at the Majestic Theatre. She even started the show in the center of the audience, opening with “Another Lifetime.”

Nao had as much fun at the show as her fans did. She danced around to every song, smiling and giddy the entire time. She had a free spirit and attitude that you can only gain from coming out the storm.

Nao explained the meaning behind the title of her album, Saturn. Saturn’s orbital period is about 29 years, so once it goes back to the same position it did once you were born, many changes happen. You tend to reevaluate your relationships or make major decisions, so the album is about that period in her life.

Nao isn’t one of those divas that forgets where she came from. She remembered people in the crowd from previous shows.  She also shouted out her band that she has been with for five years, even before she could pay them. My favorite touch of the show is when she passed out balloons resembling the ones from her Saturn album cover.

Saturn is about letting go and moving on, but we shouldn’t move on from Nao anytime soon.

Merchandise Situation:

Her merchandise included a t-shirt, backpack, hoodie, poster, hat, CD and vinyl.  The most expensive item was the hoodie for $40. The vinyl ($25) and CD were both signed and I thought those were pretty cute. Most of the merchandise seemed to be only available on the tour and not online.

Setlist:

(this is the Portland show on Jan 14, and despite minor shakeups in the order, the setlist for the Detorit show was about the same)

1. Another Lifetime
2. If You Ever
3. Make It Out Alive
4. Fool to Love
5. Adore You
6. Gabriel
7. Orbit
8. Inhale Exhale
9. Complicated
10. Get to Know Ya
11. A Life Like This
12. Saturn
13. Girlfriend
14. Yellow of the Sun
15. Firefly
    (Mura Masa cover)
16. Drive and Disconnect
17. Bad Blood

All photos by Ariana LaBarrie/fresh pair of iis

Taylor Swift brought her reputation Stadium Tour to Ford Field on Tuesday. Despite this being her first official, all stadium shows tour, this was her fourth time headlining Ford Field, bringing her tour here since the Speak Now tour.

Charli XCX kicked off this girl power tour with “Boom Clap,” commanding attention even though people were still trying to find their seats. Her brand of party music set a great vibe for the show and her energy was contagious.

Camila Cabello came out next repping the home team by wearing a Detroit Lions’ Jersey with her last name on it. Her vocals and performance showed why she deserved Artist of The Year at this year’s VMAs.

I’ve never been to a Taylor Swift show before, but I obviously seen clips on YouTube, so I thought I knew what to expect. I. Was. Totally. Wrong. It exceeded all expectations I had. As a person who loves concerts, but also has a lot of knowledge of the music industry, I thought the production value was amazing. The two B stages are bigger than the 1989 stage, which I already thought was massive. The main stage is huge, and when it plays images, they look 3D, as if snakes are hissing off the screen. How she smoothly got to one stage from another (sometimes via snake, sometimes a lit up ball) was seamless, and even the confetti being little Taylor Swift newspapers was so cute. The attention to detail was amazing.

If you are a fan of the reputation album, you will be pleased that she performs all songs off the album except “So It Goes…” She also performs some of her classics like “Blank Space,” “Love Story” and “Blood,” the latter two being medley or mashups with other songs.

As what has become a tradition during this tour, she played a surprise acoustic song on the B-Stage. You can see all the songs so far, (I’ve been keeping track) here. This time around it was “Jump Then Fall,” a bonus on song the Fearless: Platinum Edition album. As someone that became a Taylor fan during the Fearless era, I remember listening to this song on repeat on my iPod so it was great to see it performed acoustic for the first time.

While reputation is about revenge and trying to outrun preconceived notions about you, the show’s penultimate performance ended on a sweet note with “Call It What You Want,” showing that your reputation doesn’t matter with the right people.

While Taylor is a huge star, she expressed gratitude to everyone who made this tour possible. She also said kind words about Aretha Franklin and held a moment of silence for her in Aretha’s hometown.

While Taylor has been in the business for over a decade, I’m still very much excited for what’s to come next.

(Photos by Ariana LaBarrie/fresh pair of iis)

Pandora is one of the first music streaming services I remember using because it was a great way to listen to radio without always feeling the need to change the station to find a song that I like. Pandora is a custom radio station for you. So when Metro PCS and Pandora announced a surprised pop-up show with Big Sean, I knew it would be a bunch of hits. His set list was amazing, including classics like “Blessings” and new songs like “Moves” and “Jump Out The Window.” What surprised me most was how long the show was. With pop-up shows you are expecting just a few songs, but he performed over an hour set. His transition with the clapping sounds of “I Know,” a slower paced song, to the fast “A$$” was also genius.

Check out the setlist and more pictures below.

Moves
Paradise
No Favors
Mercy
Clique
Jump Out The Window
My Last
Beware
I Know
A$$
Skateboard
All Me
Don’t Like
One Man
IDFWU
Bounce Back

After having two mix tapes, Cloud 19 and You Should Be Here, Kehlani put out her debut album Sweet Sexy Savage at the top of this year. I loved the album so much, and her tour was amazing.

I saw her show twice at Concord Music Hall in Chicago, and yes, it was totally worth seeing two times.

Her opening act Ella Mai was a great complement to the tour. With tatts and her R&B music, she definitely has similar vibes to Kehalni, but has her own brand and sound.

What makes Kehlani great live is that she seems like she is having so much fun. Sometimes when you see someone live, it feels like they are phoning it in or going through the motions.  Kehlani’s a performer: she sings live and does full out choreography.  She also isn’t afraid to get personal-she tells stories of hard times and relationship she went through to inspire others. I also loved that she performed the entire album.

Setlist from tour:
Keep On
Distraction
Do U Dirty
The Way
Too Much
Get Like
Gangsta
I Wanna Be
Everything Is Yours
Not Used to It
Advice
Piece of Mind
Escape
Undercover
In My Feelings
Personal
CRZY

With her latest release, Honey, she really set herself up to have a great 2018. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was nominated for another Grammy.

When I heard about SZA was going on tour to support her debut album CTRL, I was super excited about the opening acts too. Sometimes opening acts can seem like an after fact that the label just puts on the tour and many people skip them, but I always enjoy seeing the opening acts because it is a great way to be introduced to new music. For SZA’s tour I liked how to picked Smino and Ravyn Lenae as her supporting acts because I felt like their music and artistry were a good match for her. I’ve also seen the both live before and listen to their music, so I knew it would be a good show.

Photos by Ariana LaBarrie/fresh pair of iis

First up was Ravyn Lenae.  She sang songs off her projects Midnight Moonlight and Moon Shoes.  I’ve seen her before opening for Teyana Taylor last year, so I was excited to see her again.  Even though she performs for such large crowds, she also is so personable and warm– it is nice to see that type of stage presence.

Next up was Smino. His album blkswn is one of my favorite album this year and I’ve seen him twice before, so I was hype to see him live again.   The St. Louis native wore an old school Pistons jersey, but he definitely repped his hometown-during an break between performing songs off “blkswn,” he performed a medley of St. Louis hits, including “Air Force Ones,” and “E.I.”  My only wish was that Ravyn and Smino performed “Glass Flows”

I always say the best way to experience an album is by hearing it played by a live band.  While obviously that can’t always happen, I was happy that I was able to listen to CTRL performed live.  It definitely gives a different feeling to the album.  SZA voice is amazing live, and while her she is this huge rising star, her style of wearing khakis and Chucks showed that fame hasn’t changed her.

Set List:

Supermodel
Anything
Broken Clocks
Go Gina
Drew Barrymore
HiiiJack
Child’s Play
Normal Girl
Prom
Garden (Say It Like Dat)
Doves in the Wind
Love Galore
The Weekend
Wavy (Interlude)
Babylon