The Georgia rapper blends psychedelic rock with rap in an electrifying fashion on his first tour to stop in Montreal.
On Sept. 27, Lil Yachty brought his Field Trip Tour to Montreal. Nearly 2,000 fans gathered at MTELUS to witness the artist’s musical creativity, as well as his ability to send people into a mosh pit-filled frenzy through a series of consecutive hits.
The show was preceded by two opening acts: the first was the Concrete Family, composed of artists signed to Yachty’s Concrete Boyz label. Camo31, KarrahBooo, DC2Trill, and Draft Day each delivered personality-filled performances, complementing each other’s energy and introducing each other to maintain the hype they established. Nick Hakim, an alternative artist who helped produce on Yachty’s most recent record Let’s Start Here followed up, although his style translated less with the hip-hop-oriented audience.
The show was opened and closed by music from Yachty’s latest album, a psychedelic rock effort. Yachty appeared onstage when his song “drive ME crazy!,” was being played by his live band composed of vocalists, a bassist, and a guitarist. The track’s irresistible groove and catchy chorus were harmonized by lights of all colours and hypnotic background visuals, all of which enhanced the album’s psychedelic sound in a live setting.
Yachty’s vocal performances impressed as he belted out the hooks to songs like “the ride-” and “sAy sOMETHINg.” The latter received a stripped-down rendition that highlighted the singer’s bright and bubbly vocals on the track—vocal qualities that call back to his breakout 2016 mixtape Lil Boat.
After a brief interlude by the band, Yachty headed into a medley of his rap material, kicking off with recent hits “SOLO STEPPIN CRETE BOY,” and “Slide.” He cycled through one banger after another, keeping the crowd invigorated as they moshed and jumped around. He also ran through collaborations with various rappers such as Future and Playboi Carti.
Before playing “Yacht Club,” a song featuring Juice WRLD, Yachty gathered the crowd for a moment of silence to pay tribute to the Chicago rapper who passed away in 2019. Yachty then revisited some of his earliest viral guest features on KYLE’s “iSpy” and DRAM’s “Broccoli,” as well as his recent viral solo tracks “Poland” and “Strike (Holster).”. The crowd was notably pushier and harder to navigate through during the rap section, with mosh pits opening at every turn.
The show’s final leg made room for psychedelic rock once again. Lil Yachty’s stage presence during his psych-rock bits was notable, with him bobbing around and rocking out energetically to the instrumentals. The bright lights and visuals returned along with the live instrumentation, which continued to elevate the tracks on Let’s Start Here.
The album’s intro “the BLACK seminole.” made for an impeccable closer. With its succession of groovy guitars, an electric guitar solo, and a hard-hitting drum breakdown complete with a solo by Yachty’s guest vocalist, the song played out as a magnificent send-off.
It perfectly demonstrated the unique and powerful artistic evolution that Yachty was able to execute not only with this last album, but also with this tour. It was an audiovisual experience filled with live instruments, quality vocal performances, and eye-catching visuals—with a handful of rap bangers to complete the recipe.
