My Summer Sixteen Tour Experience/Review

I'M OUT HERE LOOKING FOR REVENGE ALL SUMMER SIXTEEN

The scene from my seat at the Xcel Energy Center when Drake played Hotline Bling


On Sunday July 24th I had the pleasure of going to the Summer Sixteen Tour at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The listed concert lineup featured Roy Woods, dvsn, Future and Drake. Unfortunately Roy Woods didn't preform but that was the only negative with show.

Drake aka Aubrey aka October's Very Own is as popular as ever. Not only is has he been one of the hottest rappers for the past couple years but he has transcended rap and is a pop culture icon. You can hear phrases from his biggest songs on your local news.

What a Time to Be Alive The name of Drake's mixtape with Future- The phrase is used anytime something unusual or when something is a sign of the current times.

YOLO- An acronym that stands for You Only Live Once the phrase is featured in Drake's song The Motto. Can be used to justify ones actions without caring about possible future consequences.

I've been fortunate to see a few different shows where I would say the artist is at their peak.

Lil Wayne Summer of 2007- It was right before The Carter 3 came out and he was on fire putting out mixtapes every month or so. The show was at the Myth in Maplewood MN. Wayne preformed 100 plus songs (a verse from each). The show ended with Lil Wayne leaving the stage to then return wearing a boxing like robe with the Best Rapper Alive beat playing which was a sight to behold.

The Weeknd Summer of 2012- At First Ave right after the trilogy came out. At this point I had no idea what The Weeknd (random thought, is the "The" in "The Weeknd capitalized? I think it is) looked like.

My Experience at Drake's Summer Sixteen Tour

Walking into the Xcel Energy Center around 7 PM with the show scheduled to start at 8 PM the arena entry way was full of people/energy. The inside of the arena was dimly lit and there was some waiting to see who the first artist would be. I was hoping to see Roy Woods come out first as I became a big fan of his through Apple Music's OVO Sound Radio. 

However the first artist was dvsn. An artist that most Drake fans were probably not too aware of other than they should recognize him from track 9 off Views called Faithful where he's featured. dvsn (his name isn't capitalized so when you start a sentence with his name what should you do?) came out first and had one of the best live vocal performances I have ever seen. dvsn definitely gained some new fans from his great performance. He later return to the stage to preform his part in the song Faithful.

I assumed Future would come out next as it is Drake's tour I was mistaken. Then all of a sudden Drake appeared and the crowd lost it. The stage set up featured a curved screen behind/above the stage as well as suspended balloons above the floor seating.  Drake's song list mainly consisted of his two most projects: If Your Reading This It's Too Late and Views. The suspended balloons or orbs illumited and moved to the beat. Drake's library of songs is so extensive there are songs he didn't preform that were mega hits that most artists would preform at a show this big. Normally I'm not a fan of concerts at large venues because how impersonal it feels but this show was worthy of a large arena. From the numerous anthems Drake has to the unique/beautiful stage the Xcel Energy Center was rockin' all night. The show even went past the apparent Sunday curfew of 11 PM and Drake didn't seem to care about any upcoming fine for going past the curfew.

Note: Future did come out to join Drake to preform WATTBA as well as own the stage by himself for a few songs. 

After seeing Drake live and Future live for a second time this summer I can cross them off my list of my favorite artists I needed to see live.

My favorite Artists I've seen live:

Prince- Target Center/the summer of 2007
Lil Wayne- Myth/the summer of 2007 
The Weeknd- First Ave/ Summer of 2012
Future- Soundset 2016/Summer Sixteen Tour
Drake- Summer Sixteen Tour

Artists I still need to see live:

Fabolous-
Diplo/Major Lazer-
100s-






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