Future
The Observatory
3/18/2016
Had the doors for Future’s shows at the Observatory opened at 7 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. on Thursday and Friday nights, it likely would’ve been a very different scene.
There might not have been party buses parked outside of the venue, and much of the crowd likely wouldn’t have had the opportunity to pregame quite as hard. A host of other things probably would’ve been different as well, but the late show slot seemed to suit the Atlanta native perfectly.
Coming to the stage to huge cheers and applause around 1:20 a.m., Future immediately gave the crowd what they wanted to hear by kicking things off with his DS2 opener “Thought It Was a Drought.” The raucous crowd knew they were about to hear everything they’d been clamoring for as the show segued straight into “Move That Dope,” even if there still wasn’t a single visible pair of Gucci flip flops in the building.
“Karate Chop” rounded out the first bit of the late night (technically, early morning) set, but Future and the crowd had only begun to warm up as the rapper took off his sunglasses. As any artist featured as often as Future should do, the rapper and his DJ began dropping one single after another. Ty Dolla $ign’s “Blasé” and YC’s “Racks” (which introduced much of the hip hop world to Future) were two of the early show highlights of other artists’ music, with Future often performing his parts with the help of the crowd and/or a backing track.
From there, Future began mixing in his own hits (such as “Same Damn Time,” “Shit,” “Monster,” and “Magic”) between tracks like Ace Hood’s “Bugatti.” The combination allowed the rapper to flex his own skills and songs while still giving the energetic crowd every chart-topper they could want to see in a night. Actually, over the course of his 65-minute set, Future did everything just about anyone would want to see from him. The rapper performed tracks from a wide variety of his bountiful amount of mixtapes and albums, focused primarily on singles with a handful of deeper cuts thrown in, and spent most of the night dancing when he wasn’t singing or rapping (dabbing several times, much to the delight of the crowd).
As the set neared its halfway point, “My Savages” didn’t get nearly the fan love that “Where Ya At” or even “I Serve the Base” received, but there were few (if any) real low or slow points in the set. “Stick Talk” and “Blood on the Money” continued to prove that DS2 resonated the best with the crowd outside of the hits, although “Real Sisters” always gets quite the reaction.
Although many were concerned before the concert that the show would be cut short due to it starting so late, Future’s gray “Problem Child” hoodie showed that he was comfortable enough to stay on stage for the long haul. “Jersey” carried the set past 2 a.m., and crowd favorites “I’m the Plug” and “Jumpman” formed a mini What a Time to Be Alive set as a few folks began to file out of the excruciatingly packed building.
Two of Future’s biggest hits, “Low Life” (which featured a recorded version of the Weeknd) and “Fuck Up Some Commas” led to the rapper taking a minute for a dance breakdown toward the end of the set, while “March Madness” seemed particularly appropriate given the current NCAA basketball tournament.
After “Diamonds Dancing” and “Perkys Calling” wrapped up the night just a few minutes before 2:30 a.m., there was only one thing most folks could say on their way out. What a time to be alive.
