Lupe Fiasco at EMU

The openers were pretty funny and a little ridiculous. We walked in at the tail end of this guy's setlist. I think the first couple lines I heard were something like, "I think I need a Xanax, and you should go and grab a Tampax." At the end of his set he said "Peace, EMU," and as he was walking off added, seemingly as an afterthought, "My name's Josh." My assessment? His songs seem to be about nothing and his live show wasn't very engaging.

The next act was Chip tha Ripper, who was introduced by an emcee that really just walked around stage while music was playing. It kinda felt like he was stalling because Chip wasn't ready or something. When he finally came on, Chip made a big deal about not being signed. He also had kind of ridiculous lyrics (something like "Watch your head as you're getting in spaceship," which I guess was about hitting your head as you get into a car in his words). Nothing in particular stood out about his live show, except handing out tons of t-shirts; I probably wouldn't go see him again.

Lupe Fiasco made up for the shortcomings of his openers. The lights were a great addition, including the large, lighted "A." I wish the pictures had come out, but unfortunately, they were all blurry. His entire set was full of energy...even the violinist. I didn't even realize that he wasn't feeling well until he told us. In fact, for a couple songs before his closer, he actually was sitting or lying down on the raised stage. It worked out, though, because those songs were on the slow side, anyway. Right before his closer, he went around and introduced his live band to music, and it kind of felt like we were in a jazz bar. It was pretty cool. And it was a great lead in to "Daydreamin'," but right before the first verse, the band stopped. And he decided to close out with "The Show Goes On," instead. I kind of wish he had played "Daydreamin'," but he made "The Show Goes On" fun, so I didn't mind.

Some of his songs were great to hear live. For instance, I think I liked "Hip-Hop Saved My Life" better live than on disc. But there were other songs that I preferred on disc. "Kick, Push" particularly sounded off. I want to blame the sound levels because I feel like at times, the instruments overpowered the vocals. It was cool to see him acting out the kicking, pushing, and coasting, though.

One other thing that I noticed about rap shows in general is that the live band doesn't get as much focus as at a rock show. It makes sense because they're really just there as support, they don't play a huge part in the writing of the music, and I would assume they change often between tours, if not within tours.

Overall, I quite enjoyed my first rap concert.