On Saturday night, Jan. 20, Travis Scott rocked the Xcel Energy Center with his “Utopia Tour.” Following the release of his album “Utopia” in July, Scott has been touring North America performing the album alongside other hit songs.
Some other artists joining Scott in St. Paul were hit artists such as BabyFace Ray, Skillababy and Teeze. These rap artists were a great prequel to Scott, boosting the mood of the crowd. By the first song of the openers, there was already a huge mosh pit forming in the general admissions section. I had never heard of any of the opening acts, but was surprised when I recognized a few of the songs. It is always interesting to watch artists perform, even when you don’t know who they are.
Finally, the lights dimmed and the opening note to Scott’s song “Hyena” rang out. The crowd screamed as images began to play on the large screen across the stadium. The screen showed a video of Scott walking through the tunnels of the Xcel, fixing his mic pack and walking to the stage. A robotic voice, which would come back later, spoke out telling the mosh pit to open up.
The beat dropped on the first song and a hydraulic lift sprung Scott up from underneath the stage, making it appear like he jumped up from nowhere. Flames were shooting up from the outskirts of the stage and the whole stadium seemed to be screaming.
Afterwards, he played his song “Modern Jam” with colorful lights surrounding the stadium. Decorating the stage appeared to be stone sculptures of heads, reminding me of the stone statues on Easter Island. It was very cool during “Modern Jam” because they lit up in rainbow colors in sync with the playful beat.
After a few songs the robotic voice rang out again. This time it was asking for “assistance.” Travis interacted with the voice, acting out a full conversation and figuring out that the voice wanted him to bring fans on stage. He obliged and picked out about six fans from the general admissions to join him on stage, where they danced along to the next song “SDP interlude.”
I appreciate the effort and thoughtfulness of including his fans in the show, but when he did it for a second time later in the show I was slightly annoyed. Each time he did it, the show would stop for at least five minutes to pick the fans and get them onto the stage. It ultimately didn’t add anything to the show for those not selected, so I think it was just a waste of time and disrupted the flow of the show.
Before the show, I had seen multiple social media posts of Scott’s tendency to play hit song “Fein” multiple times due to its strong beat drop and popularity. I had seen concerts where he played it six, seven and even eight times, so you can imagine how surprised I was when he played it a whopping 10 times. One might think that it would get repetitive, but honestly it was a super fun experience as he got the fans involved in it as well. The camera would zoom in on a random fan in the stadium and Scott would ask “Are you feening for more?” to which the fan would reply yes, and the starting note would ring out again.
Scott ended the concert with the collaboration song “Telekinesis” with SZA, which I think was a perfect song to end with. It is one of the most popular songs on the album, and with its slower beats it had the stadium slightly calming down after the intense song “Sicko Mode.” Scott sang his part as he is seen walking through the same tunnels of the Xcel he entered in, and then SZA’s part played. Her part is a great verse to sing along to, so the camera panned on many people singing along in the crowd, bringing a sense of togetherness to the finale.
Overall, I think it was a great concert. Travis is a great performer with crazy dance moves and interesting visuals. I was on the edge of my seat the whole show. I enjoyed how he involved the audience and would definitely go see him again if he decides to come back to Minnesota.
“Utopia Tour”: ★★★★☆
