A Taste of the Bay Area

Crowded bodies, strobing lights, and a little taste for the Bay Area is what G-Eazy–“the James Dean of rap”–brought to the stage in Des Moines, Iowa on the When It’s Dark Out Tour. The long-legged ladies’ man wearing “black on black with hair slicked back” captivated an audience mainly consisting of intoxicated 20 year olds. His lyrical genius of polemically rapping on how success isn’t handed to him, fighting against what’s expected of him, inspired motivation and purpose into a sold out venue of people. The empty stage and venue, nothing more than an old mediocre building, soon was colored with stage lights and G-Eazy’s personality. The man of the hour had arrived with full colors and energy to a crowd of hungry eyes and hearts. Everyone wanted a taste of his presence and to be graced with the sound of his music. It was exactly how you would imagine it–wild.

     The night kicked off with three opening acts: A$AP Ferg, Marc E Bassy and Nef The Pharaoh. The crowd, only showing much a reaction to A$AP, tightened all the spaces between everyone in anticipation for ‘G to finally come out. It started with the lights. The familiar shift in the lighting, the stage lights going down and the artist’s backdrop lighting up, was the first signal to the crowd that they were going to soon get to see what they really paid for. Then, a voice came. Not any voice of course, but his voice. ‘G’s smug tone filled the venue, and he, building even more anticipation, stayed backstage before running out to play the upbeat track “Random” off of his new album.

      He flowed through his set list. He hit a variety of vibes with his new music while incorporating classics and really early music of his. The pacing, the energy, the stage show–he had it all going for him. His charming-smug complex stage presence was upheld through every line and rhyme, not missing a beat. He worked in a few references to the city Des Moines and to “all the pretty ladies in the crowd”, allowing the crowd to feel like there wasn’t any barrier between us and him. This feeling was even more so when he came down to the front few rows so dedicated fans could bask in his god-like presence. He was adored.

     I haven’t got a bad thing to say about his show. He gave 110%. This tour was incredibly thought out–from the outfit he wore, the merchandise sold, the lighting, the amount of interaction of artist to crowd, to the order of the set list–he wasn’t messing around. By the end of the night I was an exhausted, bruised up, sweaty girl with cheekiest grin on her face and everyone around mirrored me. He exhausted our bodies, but instilled a whole lot of love in our hearts. We felt appreciated as fans, which is harder to come by with bigger artists like himself. To put it simply, he put on the best show possible he could’ve that night. Everyone at that show took a piece of ‘G home with them.