“I remember coming to St. Louis when I used to sing Bobby Valentino’s part on ‘Mrs. Officer’,” Drake told the crowd at Enterprise Center Saturday night.
That was ten years ago when he was an unknown teen actor-turned-singer/rapper from Toronto endorsed by Lil Wayne – the biggest name in hip-hop at the time. A decade after being a substitute during Wayne’s shows, Drake (joined by rap trio Migos) now has the star power to sell out the entire Enterprise Center with less than a month’s notice.
“I’m so glad we added this [expletive] show,” Drake said. “Having 18,000 of y’all sell this show out in three weeks – and come out here and [expletive] with me like this – makes me love what I do.”
The St. Louis leg of the Aubrey and The Migos tour was announced mid-October as a last-minute addition to the tail end of the tour – and a pleasant surprise that neither Drake or the fans were going to take for granted by the time he greeted the sold-out crowd on November 10.
The energy was electric for the entire duration of Drake’s high impact show. The performance and the special effects left fans in awe. He gave them state of the art pyrotechnics, a floating Ferrari, tiny drone lights that were guided to feel like fairies were accompanying Drake for a couple of his R&B selections as he made his way around the massive stage that took up much of the floor – and visual effects that seem reserved for the female pop diva blockbuster tours of late.
But before Drake mesmerized, show opener Roy Woods – a Toronto singer/rapper signed to Drake’s OVO Sounds – kicked off the night with plenty of charisma and potential. He gave a nod to the special place he holds for the city because of his introduction to hip-hop.
“This is my first time stepping foot in St. Louis and I’m so happy you showed me love,” Woods said, after proving his potential by his refusal to be intimidated by the massive stage and matching crowd. “The first rap album I ever listened to was from St. Louis. Nelly’s ‘Country Grammar’ was the first rap album I ever heard – so it means a lot for y’all to show me so much love in St. Louis my first time here.”
After a much longer than expected intermission, Migos emerged with a medley of hits that included “Hannah Montana,” “Pipe It Up,” “Handsome and Wealthy,” “Slippery” and “Mama Told Me.” The group has grown leaps and bounds since they emerged on the hip-hop scene with respect to stage presence and energy, but still leave something to be desired. The Migos fans seemed to feel as if the segment was especially brief. And with hits like “Stir Fry” and “Bad and Boujee” missing from the lineup, they seemed a bit disgruntled as the lights came up.
What they didn’t know is that the trio would be given another segment – which allowed Drake a moment to catch his breath during his marathon of a performance. Offset, Takeoff and Quavo fared much better their second time around. Partly because they reserved their biggest hits for part two, but mostly because they enjoyed the crowd’s residual energy from the headliner who never seemed to slow down from the moment he stepped on stage.
Drake managed to squeeze in a massive number of hits from his prolific catalog by way of medleys and snippets. But his latest concert illustrated just how hard he has been grinding since he burst on the scene because of the songs that he was forced to leave off the list – even with a performance that stretched towards two hours. There were as many hits missing as there was performed – but he never let audience feel like they missed a thing as he gave them more than 30 selections to sing along with that ranged from the R&B of “Hotline Bling” traditional rap by way of “All Me” and “Blessings” and “Fake Love” to the Reggaeton of “Controlla,” his Rihanna feature “Work” and “One Dance.”
Drake is a musical chameleon that can transition from the trap style of “Jumpman” to crooning his “Don’t Matter to Me” while working in the chorus of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You.”
One of the most impressive technical elements of the show was when the stage became his Instagram feed for “In My Feelings” a nod to the song that became a social media dance sensation thanks to Instagram personality Shiggy – and was co-opted by the likes of Will Smith, Ciara and St. Louis’ own television and film star Sterling K. Brown.
Drake gave fans each of his many musical incarnations as a token of love for their unwavering support before closing with “God’s Plan.” “Thank you, St. Louis, for [expletive] with me,” Drake said. “This is why I’ll be coming back here for as long as I’m doing this –for the rest of my life.”
