Logic performed May 31st at the House of Blues in West Hollywood for his recently launched “Welcome to Forever” tour. Luckily I was able to snag some tickets for the very nicely priced 20 dollar price tag. Exxtra, Quest, Skizzy Mars, and a surprise guest appearance from Casey Veggies all tagged along for the ride as they “turnt up’d” the stage.
The concert began with a MC named “Extra” who was just any other intro act. He didn’t have much confidence in his performance and was very lack luster in his delivery. His act only lasted for about 15-20 minutes. QuESt performed afterwards. Quest has one mix tape under his belt called “ Fear Not Failure”, which I highly recommend(http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/quest-fl-fear-not-failure-mixtape.50269.html). QuESt quite possibly stole the entire show. He was energetic, enthralling, and sucked the crowd in with his stellar performing. He’d capture the crowd in with his electric energy by running along the stage calling out to the audience to give him some energy. Or he’ll delve into his life story about how he became a rapper, being kicked out of his own house, and Logic calling him to tour with him. He would derail away from his stories and abruptly go into a freestyle and begin spitting off bars as quickly as he could, all while the crowd cheering him on to continue to go faster. Over all, his performance was the best. It’s a shame he did not get more stage time.
Next, Skizzy Mars performs tracks from his recent project “Phases”. He walks onto stage with a scumbag bravado all whilst wearing his sunglasses indoors at 9 p.m . Skizzy had a real average performance but his tracks were fun. He has a real knack of what beats to go over. Most of the production was quite catchy and had a real party atmosphere to it. It’s a shame he performed right after Quest. I feel that if he had performed after the first extra, then the progression of the concert would of been a whole lot better. Plus, him performing after the first act would of been good for him as he would would’ve been a good addition after the first act. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. I think most of the crowd was still engrossed with Quest’s performance. Once Skizzy finishes up his act, his god awful DJ messes around on his turntable and tries to get the crowd “Turnt up’d.” After a bit of failed turning up, Logic finally appears on stage at around 9:30-10 p.m.
I was heavily anticipating Logic’s performance the entire night. I didn’t know what to expect. By the time it was Logic’s time to come out to be quite honest I was pretty tired out just from the entire day consisting of school, work, and getting turnt up with the DJ’s…Once he came out he immediately began to spit his bars like his usual fire spitting ways but to my horror his instrumental in the background wasn’t an instrumental at all but the actual track playing. My eyes fought the twitching, my mouth went dry, it sounded so…… amateurish. To make matters worse, every 20 minutes he would run to each side of the stage asking if we were having a good time. At this point it felt like a High School Pep Rally. Also, the DJ insisted that we sang along to his tracks. He insisted so much that every 30 seconds of the song, he would put down the volume which led to a choppy rendition of the song when it could of been enjoyed at full volume the entire time. It’s understandable when you want the crowd to sing the chorus but every 30 seconds? Luckily, it didn’t take long for the instrumentals to actually be instrumentals. There was also something else missing when Logic was performing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The performance didn’t feel natural. It felt as if it was rehearsed more than anything.
Logic can be a great performer when he allows himself to be. He can spit his lyrics as fast as he can on his tracks and can perform with the same energy he does on his albums. It’s just that his abilities were being hindered as a performer with the misdirection of the DJ insisting on the crowd singing and him going off on tangents after each song he performs. What logic had going for him in the show was honestly his charismatic persona. The guy is really funny and cracks jokes at least once or twice before beginning his next song. At one point, while he was performing a song, he actually grabbed someone’s phone from the audience, recorded himself performing, and then gave it back to who it belonged. Small things like that, really made the crowd like the guy.
Logic is in a real good place right now. With his recent mixtape, making the XXL Freshman list, and having the capabilities to tour worldwide, he has the chance to put himself in the position to be considered one of the elite lyricists in the hip hop realm. Logic is still in the birth of his success and this performance is understandable. He still has time to grow and I believe will do so in the future.
Concert Track List:
-The Spotlight
-925
-Roll Call
-Feel Good
-Get High
-On the Low
-Young Jedi
-Ballin
-Nasty
-Man of the Year
-All I do
At its Finest 