Live Review: A$AP Rocky

Outside the Arena, a sea of '90s beanies and frozen bare legs flows all the way to the corner for tonight's sold out show. Walking in sounds and feels like weekend club night as the crowd bounces and raps to Faded and Mercy. Lights brighten to a roar as the drummer, bassist, keys and DJ take their station. Smoke machines are turned on full blast as that “pretty motherfucker” flow is heard from backstage. Finally, A$AP Rocky cool and calmly walks out, all blacked out with classic white Air Forces, busting through Wassup and Purple Swag as the entire venue gravitates towards the stage. He takes time to soak up the glory and even approaches the mosh to shake some reaching hands.

After the band and strobe lights go mental for Pussy, Money, Weed, he stops to ask “who here smokes weed?”, immediately getting a joint thrown at him and a lighter soon after. Without any hesitation he sparks up, which has everyone following suit for the lengthy singalong intro to Purple Kisses. He puts his shades on as A$AP Mob members join the party, mirroring the crowd's energy as they jump all over stage. And as if security wasn't already in semi-panic mode at the riot-level energy, he asks for “crowd surfing and titties” before exploding into Wild For The Night. The band breaks the insanity with some cool down jazz as tonight's headliner himself throws out bottles of water and towels while smiling his gold teeth at the parched crowd, before igniting the vibe again as he jumps all over the speakers for Goldie.

After some crowdsurfing drama has punches thrown, A$AP Rocky stops the show to save a fan from getting kicked out before getting into an instructional “we run this!” speech, opening up the floodgates as people surf their way to the pit for a few moments onstage with their hero. Soon bikinis and boobs are clambering their way to the front, and bros are even jumping off the balcony to join the party. A$AP Rocky even opens his mic for some local freestyle then smilingly takes it back for some old school tracks after the hated gets heckled.

The night continues on as a rave rather than a concert as more people join the mob onstage; lighting visually hypes, surfing continues and the band maintains that explosive sound for Fuckin Problems and A$AP Ferg's Work. A$AP Rocky leaves his mic and lets the DJ take over as he dives straight into the crowd and continues to party there for the rest of the show.